Tom Harkin

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am going to ask consent to set aside the pending amendment only for the purpose of adopting six amendments that have been cleared on both sides as managers' amendments. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we set aside the pending amendment and that six amendments that have been cleared by the managers on both sides be considered and adopted.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I would like to announce that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry will conduct a business meeting on October 31, 2001, in SR-328A at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of this business meeting will be to confirm the organization of the Agriculture Committee Subcommittee membership, mark up the credit title of the new Federal farm bill, and consider S. 1519, a bill to amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to provide farm credit assistance for activated reservists.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. I thank you.

Mr. HARKIN. The Senator is right on target on this issue.

Mr. HARKIN

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 President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. This is a finite list of amendments we now have before the committee. I am authorized by the majority leader to announce there will be no further votes this evening.

Mr. HARKIN. I appreciate and thank Senator Carnahan and Senator Bond for bringing this important issue to our attention. I am concerned that attempts to recoup Medicaid dollars from their state could jeopardize the health care it provides for hundreds of thousands of children, senior citizens, and pregnant women. Clearly, our first priority has to be the beneficiaries of the Medicaid program. At this time of economic uncertainty, the last thing this Government should do is put our most vulnerable citizens at greater risk. Again, I thank the Senators from the State of Missouri for raising this issue, and I look forward to working with them on this matter.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I will respond to my distinguished ranking member, my friend, that I believe we are making some good progress. A major amendment is being worked out right now. I hope we go to a voice vote shortly. I only know of one other amendment that might be pending. Quite frankly--hope springs eternal--I think we might be through with this shortly.

Mr. HARKIN. I believe that might be the case. People may want to go home early tonight and have dinner with their families.

Mr. HARKIN. It depends on how long it takes to work out this language. We are waiting for Senator Dorgan. He had an amendment. I saw him a minute ago. Perhaps he will be out here shortly. I don't think that will take too long.

Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the list I will send to the desk, once this consent has been granted, be the only first-degree amendments to H.R. 3061, the Labor-HHS appropriations bill; that these amendments be subject to relevant second-degree amendments; that upon disposition of all amendments, the bill be read the third time and the Senate vote on passage of the bill. That upon passage, the Senate insist on its amendments, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate, with this action occurring with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I believe this amendment which I am pledged to cosponsor should become law. It is very reasonable for the United States to require that airlines provide information about their international travelers coming to the United States so customs can be able to check if any of the passengers are of special concern. We are going to considerable lengths to improve the safety of our aviation system and to improve our ability to better protect our borders. Requiring that international airlines provide some basic information about their passengers and their cargo is very reasonable. I understand some airlines are concerned about the small costs involved. Some airlines might have other reasons to not comply. But with 85 percent compliance with the voluntary requirements, clearly the burden is well within reason. There is no question, given the realities of our world, this should be required information for any international flight coming to the United States. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. We think we do.

Mr. HARKIN. We do?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I send a substitute amendment to the desk, which is the text of the Senate-committee-reported bill, and ask the clerk to report it.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank our assistant majority leader for his efforts in this regard. I thank him for all of his support through the years, and especially this year, for bringing this bill before the Senate. It is an important bill. I will give my opening statement in a moment. I certainly hope we are able to reach some agreement on the filing of amendments sometime this afternoon. This bill has been laid to the side for a long time. People have known it was going to come up. I hope we can get the amendments filed. I hope we can dispense with this bill, if not today, as was said, early tomorrow. There is no reason we cannot finish the bill today. I hope we can move in that direction. I thank Senator Reid for his efforts in this regard. Amendment No. 2017

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

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that the amendment be considered as original text for the purpose of further amendment; and that no points of order be considered waived by virtue of this agreement.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, as chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I am very pleased to bring before the Senate the 2002 appropriations bill for the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, and related agencies. I am also pleased to report that the bill was approved on a unanimous bipartisan vote on October 11. I begin by thanking my good friend and partner in this effort, Senator Specter, and his excellent staff for working with me and my staff to put together this bill on a bipartisan basis. This is always one of the most difficult bills to put together, and it is certainly one of the most important. Our Nation's health and the strength of our tomorrow are shaped by the critical health, education, and labor investments made by this bill. I also thank Chairman Byrd and Senator Stevens for their steadfast support and guidance throughout the year and for their good work in helping us get an enhanced allocation. The bill we are putting forward today obviously is not perfect, not by a long shot, but given the limited resources with which we had to work, I think it is a very strong bill and one I can strongly recommend. As we have done throughout our over 10-year partnership working on this subcommittee, the fiscal year 2002 bill is truly the product of bipartisan negotiation as Senator Specter and I have worked closely together to shape it. We have done our best to accommodate the literally thousands of requests we have received from our colleagues. Mr. President, I will highlight some of the main features of the proposal before us. First, it takes a number of important steps to improve the quality, affordability, and accessibility of health care in America. By providing a record $3.4 billion increase to medical research funded by the National Institutes of Health, we are keeping our 5-year commitment to double our national investment in potential medical breakthroughs. This action holds the hope of improving the lives of millions plagued by killers such as Alzheimer's, cancer, Parkinson's, diabetes, osteoporosis, spinal cord injuries, and so many others. The bill also makes a major improvement in access to affordable health care by providing a record $175 million increase to community health centers and major increases in critical prevention activities such as cancer and heart disease screening. These changes are preventive in nature and will save lives and improve health. The bill also has a major new effort to improve health care in our rural areas and small towns. We will bring more doctors and nurses and other health professionals to places they are needed by expanding the National Health Service Corps and the Nurse Loan Repayment Program. Our struggling rural hospitals are given help to deal with Medicare paperwork burdens and help to expand into other activities such as adult daycare. As a Senator from Iowa and as cochair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, I know how sorely these changes are needed. Education continues to be a top priority of this subcommittee, and while our bill provides substantial new investments in quality education, it is my strong hope and expectation that more resources will be provided when we complete action on the education reform bill now in conference. I also sit on that conference committee, led by our distinguished chairman, Senator Kennedy. That bill, which is now in conference, contains an amendment that was offered by Senator Hagel and me that the Senate approved without one dissenting vote, that we will finally meet our commitment to fully fund special education. We need that provision to do right by our schools and our local property tax payers. That amendment in that bill--I am talking not about the bill before us, but the education reform bill that is in conference--the amendment Senator Hagel and I offered, would over the next several years increase from the present level of 15 percent to 40 percent the amount the Federal Government will put into special education on an average-cost- per-pupil basis. Twenty-five years ago when we passed the special education bill, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, we stated at that time that the goal of the Federal Government was to provide 40 percent of the average-per-pupil cost. That was 25, actually 26, years ago, and we are now at 15 percent. Special education continues to be one of the highest costs to our local school districts, one that is burdening our local school systems and our local property tax payers. Yet the Federal Government has not lived up to its commitment. So in that education bill, Senator Hagel and I offered an amendment to boost that funding. It is now in conference, and hopefully we will keep that provision in the bill. That will, of course, free up some money for other parts of education which we did not have in our bill and were unable to meet all the needs. I especially want to say with the downturn in the economy, I believe we are going to need more money especially for title I programs in education for the next year, and beyond that depends on what happens to the economy. Certainly we are going to need it for the next year. Again, I am hopeful the education bill that is in conference will continue; that the House will recede to the Senate and will keep that money for special education. I am also very pleased to report this bill before us today contains nearly $1 billion to make needed repairs to our schools, including necessary security enhancements. Last year, this subcommittee, under the leadership of Senator Specter, started an initiative to help our local school districts make their schools safe. It has been extremely popular in the States, and in a time of economic downturn, this job- creating initiative is even more urgent and it should be continued. I will, at some appropriate point, point out on a chart how much all of the various States have received in the last year to make needed repairs, to bring their schools up to fire and safety code requirements, and to make needed security enhancements for their schools. As I said, it has been very helpful to the States. The Governors all support it; the school boards support it; and the parent- teacher associations. There is no one who is opposed to it. So we put the money back in this year to keep it going. With all of the talk about stimulus and stimulus package, and looking at the stimulus package the House sent us with all of the tax breaks for huge corporations, it seems to me the best stimulus we could provide would be to send money directly to our communities so they could repair and modernize their schools. We get a couple bangs for the buck on that. We put people to work; it stimulates local economies, and of course that has a backup effect because there will be suppliers of different equipment, and it provides for all kinds of multiplier effects in the economy. The second thing we get when we finish is we get something of lasting value for our country: better schools. So I am hopeful this program will be continued. This bill also makes college more affordable for millions of young people by increasing the Pell grant maximum to $4,000 and increasing the TRIO by $75 million, which brings that program's total funding to $805 million. The bill also makes an important downpayment on needed improvements to elementary and secondary education. It increases funding for title I by $1.4 billion, to a total of $10.2 billion. It increases afterschool programs by $154 million, which brings that to a total of about $1 billion. It increases funding for teacher quality by over $900 million for a total of just over $3 billion for teacher quality. This bill also funds crucial worker protection and job training efforts. I am pleased we have been able to improve our commitment to worker training and safety in this bill. We have also funded our State unemployment offices to handle the increased caseload they will face with the economic downturn. Coming from a State with one of the highest percentages of senior citizens in the Nation, I am keenly aware of the many needs of our Nation's seniors. Accordingly, our bill contains a substantial initiative to improve services to our Nation's elderly. We will allow many more homebound seniors to receive Meals on Wheels. This is a very good, low-cost program that helps the elderly and disabled in small towns and urban centers all over our country. For many of the seniors it is their only hot meal of the day and often the person who delivers the meal is the only visitor they have during the entire day. This bill also provides a major increase in services such as adult daycare, to help seniors remain in their own homes and to give their loved ones needed respite and support care. Finally, our subcommittee has held a series of hearings on the need to better protect Americans from the threat of bioterrorism, which, of course, is on so many of our minds today, especially those of us who have offices in the Hart Building, knowing we are not going to be able to get our staffs back in the building for, I guess, a few more weeks, from what I understand. It is a concern of Americans all over America about the mail they receive and whether they are going to be exposed, whether or not our food is going to be safe. So bioterrorism is something we have to address. This Friday, our subcommittee will be having a hearing on the potential threat of smallpox and what we are doing and what more we need to do to protect our country against this possible terrorist threat. While the bill before us contains a modest level of funding to address this need of bioterrorism, a much larger package will be included in the antiterrorism supplemental appropriations bill. We have developed a detailed $2.3 billion plan that would beef up our public health system, boost our vaccine stockpiles, help hospitals respond to potential surges, boost vaccine research, and increase lab security. This subcommittee is serious about meeting this threat head on, and we are prepared to fully fund a comprehensive, commonsense, antibioterrorism effort. I conclude by saying Senator Specter and I are now prepared to move this bill. The leaders have asked us, as we heard earlier, to move the bill quickly. We are eager to complete it so we can get to conference with the House. So I hope, if Members have amendments, they will come to the Chamber and offer them. Hopefully, we can wrap up this bill sometime today. As the chairman, I usually am aware of possible amendments. I must say at this point in time I have not heard of any amendments. So if any Senators have amendments, I hope they will come and offer them as soon as possible. I want to thank my colleague, Senator Specter, and his staff for all their help in putting this bill together. As he said earlier, we have had a great partnership now going on over 10 years. We keep switching sides. One is the chairman or ranking member, then chairman or ranking member. Quite frankly, I like it a little bit better this way, but I could not have asked for a better chairman when I was ranking member. I appreciate all of the many kindnesses he has afforded me, and the closeness with which we have worked over the years to develop our appropriations bills, especially this one this year. I yield the floor.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Lisa Bernhardt of my staff, Sudip Parikh and Emma Ashburn of Senator Specter's staff be granted the privilege of the floor for the duration of the consideration of H.R. 3061.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. I appreciate my friend from Illinois bringing that up. I have it later in my speech someplace. You beat me to the gun. It is true, there was this indication that someone in the Department, probably at the behest of the industry lawyers, maybe the same one who brought the Supreme Beef case, I don't know, decided they would relax the salmonella standards on the very meat our kids eat in school. As the Senator said, the hue and cry was incredible. The administration came to its senses and said the next morning: It said absolutely not. The administration said it will enforce those standards and it wanted the toughest standards. All we are doing is giving the Secretary of Agriculture the statutory authority to do just that.

Mr. HARKIN. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment. Amendment No. 1984, withdrawn

Mr. HARKIN. I asked unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. HARKIN. That is correct. Mr. President, so what our amendment does today is help the FDA make enforcement of DSHEA a top priority. I want to emphasize as Senator Hatch did that the vast majority of dietary supplements are marketed safely and legally, by manufacturers who care deeply about the public and its health. However, for the few bad actors who are giving industry a bad name, who are taking advantage of a trusting public, I say ``it is time to get tough.'' In so doing, we admonish the agency not to wield the heavy hand it did for over three decades, the over-bearing attitude which led Congress to pass DSHEA so overwhelmingly in the first place.