Michael Enzi

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. I concluded my initial statement, and I will see if another is necessary. I yield to the ranking member if he so desires.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise today to bring before the Senate the nomination of Margaret Spellings to be the Secretary of Education. On January 6, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing to review the qualifications of Ms. Spellings for the position. As chairman of the committee, I am pleased to note that the committee members found her qualifications to be exemplary and well suited to the Cabinet level position. She has been enthusiastic and well informed. As the President's domestic policy adviser, Ms. Spellings was instrumental in developing the No Child Left Behind Act, and other important legislative initiatives. Today I stand with Senator Kennedy, the ranking member and the former chairman of the HELP Committee, in bipartisan support of her nomination. I thank Senator Kennedy and his staff for helping us bring this nomination to the floor in a very timely manner. In addition, I am joined by Senator Alexander, who will be the chair of the HELP Committee's Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development. We look forward to working with Ms. Spellings in her new position. I yield the floor.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. ENZI. I ask the Senate to proceed to the vote.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I yield myself such time as I need to conclude this debate. We have had a wonderful afternoon talking about some of the basic education policies that we need to be on top of for the kids of this country. I am excited about the bipartisanship that has been shown in this discussion this afternoon. We have had a pretty good covering of a lot of the different issues that will be coming before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. But, of course, the real purpose of this discussion was to have a very brief discussion on the approval of the nomination of Mrs. Spellings to be our Secretary of Education. I am pleased there were no adverse comments during the entire time that we allowed, and there were none at the hearing we had for her. During that hearing, we discussed the President's education agenda and the future of the educational system. We asked Mrs. Spellings a lot of questions about her views on these issues and about her plans to continue to improve our schools. We were all impressed with her answers. It was evident from the comments of the Members there that Mrs. Spellings enjoys strong bipartisan support. I think that has been shown here today, too. As her record clearly shows, Mrs. Spellings is no stranger to the issues of education that will affect every child and every schoolroom throughout the United States. As the President's domestic policy adviser, Mrs. Spellings was the key part of the effort to emphasize the accountability and the importance of getting results in the classroom as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Thanks to that important legislation, our Nation's classrooms are more effective. They are more efficient. They are places of learning, and our children are benefiting from that. Mrs. Spellings believes, as I do, that every school can be a good one, and every student can be a star student. It is no secret that good skills lead to good jobs. Maintaining those skills through a lifetime of learning will lead to a good career. That has been my experience as a father of three college graduates, and also the husband of a wife who got a college graduate degree on line from the University of Wyoming while we were here in Washington. There is a little time difference between here and Wyoming. A lot of her classes started pretty late at night. But she stuck with it and got a graduate degree. All of us are proud of her for that. I am proud of all three of my kids who have their degrees. One of them is a teacher. She has gotten a couple of degrees since she became a teacher. One of those got her a certification to be a principal. I get comments from that lobby very strongly. I am so pleased with the comments I get. I would also be remiss if I did not mention my sister, who is a business major for the Sheridan School District, which is one of the big school districts in Wyoming. She is actually the smartest of us two children. She is also an accountant and does an outstanding job of keeping track of every dime of education money and informs me of ways we messed up the law when we were doing that. I get a lot of good advice from there. But it is also my hope as a grandfather of a little boy who looks at me with trusting eyes certain that his grandpa has it under control-- and just looking at him, I can tell that he is counting on his grandpa and the other parents and grandparents of this body to ensure that he receives the kind of education he will need to find a good job, and the constant training and upgrading of skills to ensure that he will be able to keep it. I was just reading a book called ``The Jobs Revolution.'' A child starting school today probably will not be able to do like his parents or grandparents did, starting one job and continuing that for 30 years and then retiring. The average child starting school today will have 14 different careers. Here is the key part: Ten of those haven't even been invented yet, which means the level of education that we have now has to have the flexibility to teach them to get the continuing education to get the new jobs so that the best jobs are maintained in the United States. Someday my grandson will take his place in the workplace, and we must make available to him, and to every worker who will give our workforce an advantage, a lifetime of learning to ensure that the United States retains its competitive edge in the global market. Mrs. Spellings understands this--the fact that the workplace isn't what it used to be. In this global, technology-driven economy, school can never be out. Today's workplace demands an ever-changing workforce that can adapt to the requirements and skills of the new high-tech jobs that are in such high demand. Keeping workers' abilities current will be vital if they are to continue to find every job they will need to support their families and maintain consistently higher standards of living. As chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, I am looking forward to working with Mrs. Spellings on these issues and many more--such as the importance of using advanced technology to improve our rural schools. As we work to address this and the other challenges of rural school systems, we must continue to be flexible in our approach. That is the only way we can ensure every child has access to a quality education and that our school systems are run in a manner that makes more sense for the population they serve. Having spoken with Mrs. Spellings, I am certain she shares my concern about rural education and that she will work together with this Congress to continue to make the changes that will be needed to keep our educational system and the lifetime of learning it must provide moving forward. As committee chairman, I am honored to be able to join the distinguished ranking member of the committee, Senator Kennedy, in supporting the confirmation of Mrs. Margaret Spellings to be the next Secretary of Education. I am extremely pleased that we worked in a bipartisan manner in order to have Mrs. Spellings confirmed by the date of the President's second inauguration. Today, this body has the opportunity to confirm an excellent nominee with the skills, with the experience, and the character to help bring our students of all ages and backgrounds along the pathway to fulfill their own version of the American dream. I am confident we can do so, and provide our children and students of all ages with an effective advocate at the Department of Education. Thank you, Mr. President. I think all Members who wish to speak on this have spoken. I ask unanimous consent that all time remaining on both sides be yielded.

Mr. ENZI. I yield 2 minutes for a quick response. This is a very important topic. Everybody has a common interest in making sure there is a quality in education all the way through. I would appreciate the comments of the Senator from Oregon, briefly.

Mr. ENZI. I have been requested by the Senator from Tennessee to yield 3 minutes to discuss the issue that has just been brought up.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Tennessee for his total enthusiasm on this issue. We are so fortunate to have him as the chair of the Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood. You have just seen a demonstration of the passion that he puts into education. Of course, he has covered it from the perspective of being Governor, of being a college president. Probably more important, he has covered it from the perspective of being the Secretary of Education of the United States. Now as a Senator, he is going to make a difference in policy by pursuing that committee vigorously, as we can tell from his comments. I also appreciate the earlier comments of Senator Kennedy and the tremendous cooperation that we have had not only on the hearings that we have had but also on the personal discussions on the workload that we have by September 5, when 28 reauthorizations expire. We have to get those done. I thank the Chair and yield the floor.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I yield such time to the Senator from Tennessee as he might consume.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I appreciate having this opportunity to express my congratulations and note for the Record the achievements of Dr. Steven F. Barrett who has just been named the Wyoming Professor of the Year. This prestigious honor is the only national award that recognizes the performance of college and university professors who have produced outstanding results as undergraduate teachers and mentors. As an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wyoming, Dr. Barrett has served as a role model for his colleagues on the school's academic staff, as well as the students he teaches in his classes. His unique teaching style gets students more involved in their classes and increases their commitment to the successful completion of their education. Dr. Barrett played a key role in the effort to improve the electrical and computer engineering curriculum. He revived courses in biomedical engineering and image processing that had not been taught for years. He also served on a committee to establish a computer engineering degree at the university. Thanks in no small part to his efforts, the degree was approved by the university trustees in 2000, and the first students graduated from the program in 2001. Wyoming students now have the chance to obtain a degree in one of the fastest growing job industries. That will help to improve their future chances for success and the ability of our workforce to compete in an ever changing job market. Dr. Barrett's dedication to his profession extends far beyond his efforts to establish the computer engineering degree. To ensure his students have the skills they will need to prepare them for post graduate life, he has upgraded the department's course work and laboratory activities involving microcontrollers, which are small self- contained computers. When he couldn't find a textbook he liked for the degree, he contacted a close friend and former colleague to help him write a text that he could use in his classes. He has gone on to write another textbook and is in the process of completing a third. He truly does exemplify the characteristics needed to get students excited about education and what they need to do to reach their greatest potential. Dr. Barrett's classes provide his students with a unique opportunity not only to learn, but to take a more active role in the process by helping to teach what they have learned. He applied for and was able to secure funding from the National Science Foundation for a program that improves the interaction between undergraduates and those with assistive technology needs. Through the program, students have had the support and encouragement they needed to develop a workshop to teach assistive technology professionals how to adapt off-the-shelf toys to assistive technology teaching aids. His students were also involved in the effort to create a 50-page workshop manual that they then used to help teach the workshop to assistive technology professionals across the state of Wyoming. By giving students these life experiences, they can more readily see the positive impact of the skills they have developed in the effort to improve the lives and education of others. Wyoming can be very proud of professors such as Dr. Barrett who are such an integral part of our Wyoming school system. His dedication to the future of his students and his enthusiasm for teaching continues to improve the quality of the education Wyoming students receive in our schools, and better prepares them for the challenges they will face in their postgraduate years.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, the Internet plays a critical role in today's global economy. It allows us to work harder, faster, and more efficiently. With the click of a mouse, we can seal business deals, send birthday cards, and buy cars. We have come to rely on its ability to connect us with people and places around the world. Today Congress cleared an important piece of legislation that will help keep the internet affordable and accessible for all Americans. Today's passage in the House of S. Con. Res. 146, which amends S. 150, signals the end of months of long and difficult negotiations. I would like to commend my colleagues, Senators Allen, Wyden, Alexander, Carper, Voinovich and McCain for their commitment to this issue. Their hard work has allowed us to pass a fair and reasonable moratorium on internet access taxes. The moratorium will protect all Internet users, regardless of connection platform, while ensuring that states and localities do not lose billions in tax revenue. The moratorium on internet access taxes is necessary now because broadband technology is still in its infancy in many parts of the country. In Wyoming, we have a number of small towns where Internet service is limited to 14.4 Kbps dial-up service. At that speed, it takes all day to download one song--a song that was legally obtained, of course. The only way we are going to improve the availability of broadband services in places like rural Wyoming is by eliminating unnecessary and burdensome taxation and regulation. Consumers in every part of the country want and deserve internet access. The internet access tax moratorium will make sure they can afford to subscribe to whatever service is available. I am confident that as more consumers spend their hard-earned money on Internet services, the cable companies, telephone carriers, satellite providers and other Internet service providers, ISPs, will invest more of their money in deploying high-speed broadband services. Renewing the Internet tax moratorium is important for consumers, but it is also a major issue for states and local communities that rely on certain tax revenue from telecommunications. These state and local governments have made the decision to tax certain services and, as a former mayor and State legislator, I respect their ability to do so. However, I agree with my colleagues that Internet access is a special service that should be tax free. The difficult part is trying to define what ``Internet access'' actually is. We have spent months listening to telecommunications providers, consumers, and local officials define what telecommunications services are and when and where telecommunications taxes should start and stop. Not surprisingly, the groups have disagreed more often than not. Despite the struggle, I believe we came up with a reasonable compromise on the definition and the grandfather clauses, which will give our state and local governments the time they need to phase out taxes imposed prior to the moratorium. Now that we have passed the moratorium on Internet access taxes, I am anxious to refocus some of our energy on a bill I introduced in both the 107th and 108th Congresses. The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Act would simplify the extremely cumbersome network of State sales and use taxes and help States begin to recover from years of budgetary shortfalls. The bill would authorize States that have signed the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and have passed legislation simplifying their tax system to require all sellers to collect and remit sales taxes. My streamlined bill, which has 20 cosponsors this year, is a critical bill that many of my colleagues are learning more about and recognizing its growing importance as Internet usage explodes. Two years ago the revenue loss attributed to the Internet sales tax loophole was fairly minimal. Today, the revenue loss has ballooned as online and other remote sales have increased. The States have responded to this budget crisis by signing the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and implementing legislation that drastically simplifies their sales and use tax systems. In fact, 21 States have already signed into law the necessary implementing legislation, while 8 others are currently in the process of doing so. As the States continue to make progress on reforming their sales tax systems, I would urge Congress to make progress on a bill that will provide to the states the authority they need to collect their own taxes. I intend to introduce the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Act again next year and hope to work with the Finance Committee Chair and other members of the Senate to pass it into law. In the meantime, I am pleased we will have in place a moratorium that recognizes the importance of the Internet and will allow it to grow and prosper in the coming years. (At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered to be printed in the Record.)

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I thank Chairman Gregg and Senator Kennedy, Chairman Boehner and Representative Miller for their leadership on this important issue. I also thank my colleagues and fellow conferees from both the House and Senate for their hard work on an issue that is vital to our children's education and their future, as well as ours. When Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act into law 30 years ago, it represented the strength of the Federal commitment to ensuring that all students would receive the support they need to reach their full potential. Congress made its position clear: all disabled students would be guaranteed a free and appropriate public education. This legislation advances that concept that has been preserved in spirit and refined to make it more effective over time. It does so while staying true to the original intent of Congress. I am pleased to be able to support this legislation, and I would like to speak briefly on a few issues that are of great concern to me and the people of Wyoming that I represent. As a rural State, Wyoming has many small schools where teachers are responsible for multiple subjects. Our special education teachers are in this position more often than other teachers in our State, simply because we do not have a lot of students and our special education classrooms are often very small and include several grade levels. My home county, Campbell County, currently has around 7,000 students. That is an entire county. I am aware that some States have more students enrolled in a single high school than we have in that entire county, which at 5,000 square miles, is bigger than the State of Delaware. This legislation makes an important clarification to the Highly Qualified Teacher standard established by the No Child Left Behind Act. It defines highly qualified in a way that is consistent with No Child Left Behind, but it also provides flexibility for States, like Wyoming, that have a large number of special education teachers responsible for more than one subject. This change will ensure that disabled children will be taught by a highly qualified teacher and it also recognizes the reality of rural States and the challenges we have in recruiting and retaining teachers. This bill also provides flexibility for States and school districts who are responsible for the largest portion of special education funding. An important change is the flexibility for States to use the same flexibility provided to districts if they provide 100 percent of the State's non-Federal education spending. Many of our districts in Wyoming and the State as a whole will benefit from this flexibility. They will be better able to support education programs serving our students' best interests, rather than having their hands tied by Federal law. I am also pleased that we were able to reach consensus on the need to improve the due process and discipline sections under the current IDEA legislation. The amount of unnecessary litigation surrounding the provision of services for students with disabilities has become a burden for many districts, and it has been a problem that disproportionately affects small, rural districts. By adding mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, we have given parents and schools the tools they need to resolve complaints outside of the courtroom. These changes represent a common sense approach to what has become a serious problem. I believe the revised due process and discipline sections address concerns we've heard from parents of students with disabilities and teachers, principals and administrators. They encourage parents and school leaders to work cooperatively to meet the needs of disabled children, which is in everyone's best interest. I am pleased that we have been able to finish work on this important legislation before the close of the 108th Congress so these important improvements can be enacted.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I would like to congratulate the educators, administrators, parents, and children of my home State of Wyoming. Since the implementation of No Child Left Behind in 2001, our students have increased their test scores, proving that our schools are taking the adequate steps needed to ensure academic proficiency for all students, including those who are disadvantaged. The basis of No Child Left Behind is simple. It says that every 4th grader should be able to read, and do mathematics at a 4th grade level; every 8th grader at an 8th grade level, and every 11th grader at an 11th grade level. But making it work calls for the hard work and dedication of all individuals involved with education--from the parents to the teachers, to the legislators and administrators. By putting the children first, our schools are making the progress needed for students to perform at their intended level, which will help them excel later in life. The 2004 results of the WyCAS, our State's assessment, show that 47 percent of fourth graders in Wyoming tested as advanced or proficient in reading, 40 percent in writing, and 39 percent in mathematics. While there is still room for improvement, all three are increases from last year's scores of 44, 37, and 37 percent respectively. In addition, 57 percent of the 8th grade students tested as advanced or proficient in writing, almost a 10-percent increase from the previous year, when they scored 48 percent. A few schools that made tremendous growth this year should be especially proud of themselves. Moorcroft Junior High now has 81 percent of their students proficient in writing as compared to only 38 percent last year. Sundance Junior High also produced exceptional results in math, with 74 percent of their students performing at proficient or advanced level, compared to 39 percent last year. Improvements have not only been made from last year to this year but over time as well. The 11th graders, who took the WyCAS as 8th graders in 2001, improved their mathematics scores from 32 percent being advanced or proficient to 44 percent. In reading, the results were similar. They jumped from 39 percent as 8th graders to 50 percent as 11th graders. The results are a good indication that our students are learning and our teachers are working hard to leave no child behind. I am pleased with Wyoming's dedication to education, and I look forward to learning the results of other indicators that No Child Left Behind uses to assure schools are making adequate yearly progress. I encourage Wyoming schools to keep up the good work and continue to put the children first.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague from New York to introduce legislation to stop the sale of questionable financial products through hard sales tactics to our military personnel and their families. Over the course of recent months, it has become increasingly clear that the lack of clear lines in the oversight of insurance and securities sales on military bases has allowed certain individuals to push high cost financial products on unknowing military personnel. This practice must be stopped now. Our soldiers and their families deserve much better than that especially since they are putting themselves on the front line day after day for our freedom. The bill that we introduce today will halt completely the sale of a mutual fund-like product that charges a 50-percent sales commission against the first year of contributions by a military family. Currently, there are hundreds of mutual fund products available on the market that charge less than 6 percent. The excessive sales charges of these contractually based financial products make them susceptible to abusive and misleading sales practices. Unfortunately, a small group of individuals target these products almost entirely to military families. In addition, certain life insurance products are being offered to our service members disguised and marketed as investment products. These products provide very low death benefits while charging very high premiums, especially in the first few years. Many of these products are unsuitable for the insurance and investment needs of military families. One of the major problems with the sales of insurance products on military bases is whether State insurance regulators or military base commanders are responsible for the oversight of sales agents. Typically, military base commanders will bar certain sales agents from a military base only to have the sales agents show up at other military facilities. Since there is no record of the bar, State insurance regulators have been unable to have adequate oversight of the individuals. The bill that we introduce today will rectify that problem. It will state clearly that State insurance regulators have jurisdiction of the sale of insurance products on military bases. In addition, the bill will urge State insurance regulators to work with the Department of Defense to develop life insurance product standards and disclosures. The Department of Defense also will keep at list of individuals who are barred or banned from military bases due to abuse or unscrupulous sales tactics and to share that list with Federal and State insurance, securities and other relevant regulators. Finally, the bill that we are introducing today will protect our military families by preventing investment companies to issue periodic payment plan certificates, the mutual fund-like investment product with extremely high first-year costs. This type of financial instrument has been criticized by securities regulators since the late 1960s. We believe that this legislation is but the first step in helping our military families. Last year, I worked with Senators Shelby, Sarbanes, Akaka and Stabenow to develop financial literacy initiatives for the Federal Government and for students. My colleague from New York and I will be working next year to strengthen the financial literacy programs for military personnel. By providing military families with the tools to analyze and compare financial products, we will give them an advantage over sales agents who attempt to sell high cost financial and insurance products ill-suited to military life. It should be noted that there are many upstanding financial and insurance companies that sell very worthwhile investment and insurance products to military families. They should be applauded for the fine job that they do in helping our families. This bill is targeted at the few who abuse the system and prey upon our military in times when our country needs them the most. Last night, a similar bipartisan bill passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote of 396-2. Congress is fully aware of the dangers faced by our military personnel in keeping our country safe from harm. Likewise, we must do all that we can to arm our soldiers when they face the dangers of planning for their financial futures. I urge my colleagues to take up this bill immediately so that we can help our men and women in the military and their families.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. I believe under regular order that for our time we have up to 60 minutes, that there was no set time for adjourning for the policy committees.

Mr. ENZI. I thank the Senator from Nevada for his comments. I assure people that the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is one of the more controversial committees of the Senate. If I didn't have some credibility of following through on the things I have talked about in the process, that would not have gotten out of committee unanimously, had that not had the same kind of confidence on what I would do if a conference committee were appointed. And we talked about what kind of differences there are. The House had already passed their bill. If they didn't have some confidence in me that what I had said would happen would happen, it would not have gotten through the Senate floor unanimously. That doesn't happen often with Health, Education, Labor, and Pension bills. This has been a very important bill for the workforce of America, and we had great agreement and cooperative work on it, recognizing what would probably be done in conference committee. Now, we could probably send this over four or five times to the House--which there is not time to do--and resolve some of the differences in each of those. Had I known this was going to happen, I would have started that process much earlier so we would have had time to send an important bill like this back and forth. The way this has always been done with the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee bill--that is the committee I have been on ever since I got here--is that we held conferences. Yes, some of them had a lot of animosity, but we worked them out and got bills finished. When you have difficult issues, the best thing is for people to sit down with each other. I have always invited the other side to any conference committee I have been on, and we have listened to both sides. What we have usually come up with, instead of one side or the other, was a third way. That is what ought to be done on this bill. We ought to be reaching an agreement so we can get 900,000 people a year trained to fill the skills gap we were talking about before. We are not just going to have a lack of jobs, we are going to have more jobs than we can fill--provided we have people trained to fill them. If we don't train the people, those jobs are going overseas and we will never see them again. It has been critical for this year, the year that is just about over. We cannot afford to do this again next year and wait a year or 2 years to reach an agreement to get people trained for jobs. That is what is happening. If we have to go until the first of the year, all these bills start all over again. Everybody's ideas come back in again, we redraft and start again, and we get to conference--maybe. But there is no assurance of that. We are at the point where we can have a conference committee. If we have a conference committee, then there can be agreement or disagreement. If there is disagreement, there is an opportunity to filibuster at that point. Senators who cannot filibuster a bill through the rest of the session, as short as it is going to be now, probably ought to be worried about their senatorial capability. Our workers and our companies deserve more than election year political obstruction. They deserve the tools needed to keep American workers and businesses the best in the world. They deserve to see us act in a bipartisan manner and send this bill to conference. I yield the floor.

Mr. ENZI. I am deeply disappointed. I am not surprised that the other side objects to sending this important jobs training bill to conference. I am a little disappointed in the comments I just heard which try to give some credibility to my not being trusted. I don't remember any handshake I have made on any bill that hasn't turned out to be that way. I was not a part of that transaction. I am on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I have heard a lot of talk by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle about jobs and workers. But I have to tell you that their actions don't match their words. It is a little disingenuous to come talk about jobs and then block a job training bill. I point out one very important program we have that helps American workers improve their skills and get a new or better job so they can make a better life for themselves and their families. It is the nation's job training program created under the Workforce Investment Act. This job training legislation would help over 900,000 unemployed workers each year get back to work. We keep talking about jobs and work, but we haven't been able to get this important bill into conference. If the other party really wanted to provide working families with the help they need, they would be a lot less talkative, and they would be a lot more active when it comes to moving this bill on job training to conference and enacting it into law. This obstruction by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle hurts our workers, it hurts our businesses, and it hurts our ability to compete in the global marketplace. Let us look at the facts. The economy has shown 12 straight months of job gains. Last month, payroll employment increased by 144,000 jobs. Nearly 1.7 million new jobs have been created over the past year. The unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent.

Mr. ENZI. Yes.

Mr. ENZI. Yes.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, we have laid the groundwork for the economic recovery we are experiencing today. President Bush's economic policies continue to create new jobs and move the economy forward. This all adds up to good news for the American people; not good news if you do not have a job. But this is a job-training program I am talking about so you can get a job, or if you have a job and want a better job, you can get skills improvement. We have weathered the storm and we are poised to enter a new period of prosperity. However, I have to caution you about some serious roadblocks that stand in the way of prosperity for our workers and businesses alike. The first roadblock is a gap between the skills our workforce has and the skills our employers need. The second roadblock is the Democrats' obstruction of the job-training legislation that will help close this skills gap. First I will talk about the skills gap so you can understand just how damaging the Democrats' obstruction is to our workers and our economy. It may surprise you to learn that many good jobs in this country will remain unfilled because employers cannot find workers with the skills they need. This skills gap is not about politics; it is about education and training; it is about demographics; it is about America's competitiveness in the global marketplace. This chart shows the expected labor force and labor force demand from 2002 to 2031. You can see the line with the boxes on it which shows the labor that is going to be needed. You can see the other less-increasing line that shows the labor that will be available. You can see the gap we will have between the number needed and the number available. We will not have enough workers to fill our jobs and we will not have enough workers with the right skills for those jobs. And we do not right now. According to a 2003 survey by the Center for Workforce Preparation, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, half of the employers reported difficulty in finding qualified workers. The problem is greatest for small employers. Small business--our greatest source of economic growth--cannot create jobs if they do not have skilled workers to fill them. The gap between the demand for high-skilled workers and the supply will only widen in the future. Looking ahead 2 years, only 30 percent of the employers surveyed by the Center for Workforce Preparation believe the skills of their workers will keep pace. As policymakers, we too must look ahead to the growing skills gap that demands our attention and our action now. Another chart shows the projected skilled- and unskilled-worker gap in 2010 and 2020. In 2010, the skilled-worker gap will be 5.3 million; by 2020, it will be 14 million. The unskilled-worker gap will move from 1.7 million in 2010 to 7 million in 2020. That is 7 million total by 2010, and 21 million total by 2020. This skills gap blocks the way to better jobs and better lives for American workers and their families. This skills gap also threatens the ability of American businesses to compete in a more complex, global economy. In the book called ``The Jobs Revolution,'' by Steve Gunderson, Robert Jones, and Kathryn Scanland, they describe the impact of this skills gap: Every unfilled job translates to products and services we cannot deliver to the global market and, therefore, dollars we cannot return to the U.S. economy. Almost certainly, jobs unfilled in the U.S. will go elsewhere and not return. Now, we can change this outcome. We can keep jobs and prosperity in America. But we must act now to close the skills gap by improving our education and our job training system. When Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the Senate Banking Committee, he said: [W]hat will ultimately determine the standard of living in this country is the skill of the people. Why is effective workforce training so important? Because in an increasingly knowledge-based economy, people--their talent and their ideas--make the difference. People are a company's most important resource. The skills and ingenuity of the American workforce will drive our economy in the 21st century and beyond. If we want to keep high- paying jobs in America, our challenge is to equip our workers with skills the global economy demands. We used to manufacture buggy whips. We do not make them anymore, or hardly any of them. The workers who made buggy whips had to learn new skills. The new economy creates new jobs and those new jobs demand new skills. We cannot turn back the clock. To quote again from ``The Jobs Revolution'': We'll never return to the days before satellites hovered over the globe and the Internet wove us together. We need to go forward, guided by a plan that reflects a new set of American priorities. The plan will marry education and employment. In the old, pre-revolutionary model, we went to school for a dozen or more years and then we went to work. After this revolution we'll need to keep learning to keep working. Education and re-education will be the dominant strategy by which we land and hold our jobs. Unfortunately, the current workforce development system is not up to the task. It is not effectively equipping our workers with the relevant skills. Without any action, technology and other advances will outpace the ability of American workers and businesses to update skills needed to compete. We must improve the Nation's job-training system under the Workforce Investment Act to better prepare American workers for the good jobs of today and tomorrow. Only a systematic reform of our Nation's job- training system will enable American workers and businesses to compete and succeed in the global economy. There is good news. We have a bill that does this. It is a bipartisan bill that reauthorizes and improves the Nation's job-training system. It will help retrain workers to fill the jobs needed in this country now and in the future. It will link workforce development with economic development, recognizing that job training and job creation go hand in hand. It will partner the public workforce system with private sector employers--including small businesses--and with training providers to better prepare workers for high-wage, high-growth jobs. The good news is that we have bipartisan legislation that does all of this--legislation that passed out of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee unanimously, legislation that passed on the floor of this Senate last November unanimously. That does not happen with controversial bills. Where is the bill now? Here is the bad news. Here is the roadblock. The Democrats will not let us send this important job-training bill to conference. They are stopping progress by refusing to appoint a conference committee, which is a committee made up of both Republicans and Democrats who would meet with Republicans and Democrats from the House to work out the differences between the House and the Senate versions of the bill--a very common procedure in past years, obviously not in this year. This is an important jobs bill, a bill that will help American workers and businesses, and it is being held hostage to election year politics. If we really care about keeping good jobs in this country, we need to send that job-training legislation to conference and then to the President to become law. I owe my constituents more. I think we all do. We owe the American people an open legislative process, a process they expect and deserve from us. This is not just an academic question of Senate rules and procedures. A bill that would help put Americans back to work or find better jobs now lies in legislative limbo. Whether a company decides to open a plant in Cheyenne or China depends upon a qualified local workforce. A skilled workforce can make the difference between success and failure in the new, global economy. It will make the difference for our workers, for our companies, and for our future. There is an American dream. It is to have a family, a nice home, and a good job to support that home and family. Prior to my coming to the Senate, my wife and I owned some shoe stores. As a small-business owner, I saw firsthand the impact of job training in achieving that dream. We had an employee, a Vietnam veteran, who went to work through a workforce training course and ended up managing and then buying two stores from us. He is an example of what you can do with effective job training if you teach workers to dream at the same time. We have to give workers and businesses the tools to turn those dreams into reality. Job training under the Workforce Investment Act can turn the dream into reality for millions of American workers. By blocking legislation that improves job training, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are blocking the way to new and better jobs for American workers. They are blocking the pathway to prosperity for American families and American companies. The job training bill known as the Workforce Investment Act is a central part of a combination of Federal education and training programs that provides lifelong learning for the workforce of today and tomorrow. In this technology-driven global economy, everyone is a student who must adapt to changing workforce needs by continuing to pursue their education. In turn, Congress must ensure that education and job training are connected to the needs of business, including small business, now and in the future. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to allow the appointment of conferees to the job training legislation known as the Workforce Investment Act. The cost of this obstruction is the loss of important legislative efforts that will benefit the American people as it harms the integrity of the legislative process itself. I hope our bipartisan efforts on this bill can continue. I hope regular order is restored to the appointment of conferees so we can craft the final version of legislation. If we wanted to keep good jobs in this country, the Democrats would agree to send this important bill to conference. And a conference isn't the last opportunity to obstruct or to filibuster. After the conference, if the Democrats don't like the results they participated in--and that is a key part to this, in conference both sides participate, as I mentioned before--then they can filibuster. This is embarrassing because we passed it unanimously last November. We asked for more job training last November. It is almost November again. And in fact, if a conference committee were appointed, there isn't time for that, it would be a bipartisan effort. It would be continuing work on the job force because there isn't anything a conference committee now could do that could affect this election. They have already held out long enough to affect this election and to restrict jobs in the economy. I am pushing for a conference committee that could meet, that could resolve the small differences there are between the House and Senate bills. We have already talked about what those are and what the changes would probably be. I resolved about six of the issues that were brought up before, and we are down to some very minor ones. They need to be fixed by a conference committee. There is no reason a conference committee should not have been appointed last year--not this year, but last year. This should have been worked out and people should already be in training for these jobs--900,000 of them a year. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the House message to accompany H.R. 1261, the job training bill, also known as the workforce investment legislation, which is at the desk; provided that the Senate insist upon its amendment, agree to the request for conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate with a ratio of 5 to 4.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, the Senator from Nevada may wish to speak after I speak. I will be covering some of the same ground. I will be making a unanimous consent request.

Mr. ENZI. I am going to object to giving some leeway to the Senator from Nevada to give some kind of response because we are going to be asking unanimous consent. But I have listened for the last 2\1/2\ hours to comments from the other side that I have not been able to respond to. To give unlimited additional time to the other side to again make comments that we obviously would like to comment on, too, isn't reasonable at this point in time. We are already into the time of the policy meetings, so we are extending beyond that time. We are having to take that time in order to use our allotted time.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I wish to take a few minutes and talk about a historic event that just reoccurred in Wyoming this last weekend. We just completed another weekend of the One Shot Antelope Hunt. This is one of the earliest competitions in America. It is a continuing one. It has been done annually since 1939. I know about it because my grandfather told me about it. He considered it to be one of the great competitions. They allow 2,400 hunters to be a part of it each year. It is tied in with some conservation efforts. I would like to thank a few people for putting this on each year in Lander, WY. The president this year was Scott Harnsberger. They are helped by the Shoshone Tribe. Chief Norm St. Clair did the blessing of the bullets. Medicine man Willie LeClair provided the medicine bags. My greeter was Rick Fagmont. He is a CPA, and I appreciated that since I am the only accountant in the Senate. The sheriff, Skip Horneker, was my guide for the hunt. As I mentioned, my grandfather had told me about this hunt, and I started hunting with him when I was about 6 years old. We would go out and take this rifle he had and sight it in. At that time, it was his intention for me to some day have that rifle. As we would sight it in, he would take three shots and we would check the target, and then he would say this is shooting 4 inches high and 4 inches to the right. As long as that is happening, don't change anything. If you change it, it will never be the same again. I am pleased to tell you that 54 years later it has never been changed. It still shoots 4 inches high and 4 inches to the right. That is the rifle I took on this hunt. When I sighted it in--and they have professionals there to make sure you have it right--I told them it is 4 inches high and 4 inches to the right and that I would not change it. My first shot was 4 inches high and 4 inches to the right. After I compensated that, the second shot was right in the bullseye. Part of this organization provides water for wildlife. Many people would not know that Wyoming is high desert. Most of it gets less than 16 inches of rainfall a year. Yet we have a lot of wildlife. We have an increase in the amount of wildlife because the hunters of the State have been concerned about it, are working on it, and have provided different methods that improve habitat for wildlife, none of which helps it more than water. There are people who would claim that in some places in Wyoming, if you saw an antelope, it would be carrying a water bottle because it would be so far from water. They worked very hard during the year to get contributions and planned water projects in places to be particularly helpful to the wildlife. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Sportsmans Caucus, which is a group of sportsmen in the Senate and in the House that works all year long to watch out for legislation that helps conservation and that provides greater access for hunters and sportsmen. It involves Members of the Senate and House in the outdoor sports. So those who have not had an opportunity to see them will have an opportunity to see what they can do. A favorite quote of mine is that ``it is better to take your child hunting than to be hunting for your child.'' Fortunately, there are not only parents involved in this activity, but there are a lot of people who adopt kids for this kind of activity. It makes a great difference in Wyoming, and I expect it makes a great difference throughout the country. It was a great pleasure to take part in this annual event and to see the people who have participated for years. It was a great time for me to remember my grandfather and all of the lessons he gave me as I grew up, not only in the area of hunting or fishing, but the respect that grew out of those activities that allows me to talk about absolutely anything. So while my grandfather passed away a number of years ago, in a sense I just finished having a great weekend with my grandfather. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.