Kay Hutchison

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. In Texas, actually----

Mrs. HUTCHISON. I will be happy to yield to the distinguished Senator from Alabama.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. So I think Governor Bush's record is clear. I think the great speaker, Pete Leahy, working with the Governor, Bob Bullock, and Rick Perry, working with the Governor, have done very well in health care for the children and for the uninsured in Texas. Just as we are proud of the improvements in our public education system--and certainly we recognize every State has problems. I do not think it does much good to talk about the records of different States. But I do think if you look at the record of Governor Bush in Texas on these issues, you will be impressed that it was a priority and that we have been successful in improving public education, in covering our children under the SCHIP program, making more people eligible for these programs, and immunizing our children so they would be protected from the normal childhood diseases. I stand by my Governor and by my State. Once again, I do hope we can stop the misrepresentation of the record.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, once again I would like to make the record clear. Since the distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts focused on health care and children's health care, I would like to talk about the Texas record. I would like to talk about Governor Bush's leadership on health care for our children. Under Governor Bush, the percentage of Texans without health insurance has gone down while the number of Americans without health insurance has gone up. I also think it is worth mentioning that the Governor, along with the bipartisan legislature, took all of Texas' tobacco money, $17.4 billion in tobacco money, and allocated almost every single penny--in fact, every single penny that was not put aside for education programs to try to encourage young people not to smoke has gone for health care, health care for children, health care for indigents. The money, wisely, was put into trust, and every county in Texas reaps the benefit of that trust fund because the interest on the trust fund is spent in each county for indigent health care. So I think Governor Bush and the Texas Legislature are to be commended for focusing on health coverage for the people of Texas and for the children of Texas. In fact, under the leadership of Governor Bush, Texas spent $1.8 billion in new funding for health care for the uninsured. He also increased funding for childhood immunizations by $330 million, resulting in an increase in the percentage of immunized children from 45 percent to 75 percent. Mr. President, although I have to say, once again, I do not think it gets anyone anywhere to talk about the record in Texas, and misrepresent that record, I think it is very clear that Texas is one of the leading States in our Nation in taking care of children, in improving its public education system, and it has been a focus of Governor Bush and our Democratic speaker and our former Democratic Lieutenant Governor; We now have a Republican Lieutenant Governor. We have improved health care and education.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I see the distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts has been at it again, trying to bring the Presidential campaign to the Senate floor and misrepresenting the record in Texas. Once again, as promised, I am here to stand up for the record of the Governor of Texas and to stand up for the State of Texas. I ask my distinguished colleague, the Senator from Massachusetts, if he would consider in the future not misrepresenting Texas for two reasons: One is, I don't think it is persuasive to anyone in America to continue to hear the downgrading of a State in our country, and I certainly don't think it affects the Presidential race. Secondly, I just don't think that it is necessary or proper to downgrade a great State such as Texas or any other State in America. Of course, I am from Texas; of course, I love my State. But I think, objectively speaking, a lot of other people do because we have just surpassed New York to become the second largest State in America. People are not moving there because they think we have a terrible education system. They are not moving there because they think we don't treat our children well. They are not moving there because we don't have health insurance for our children. They are not moving there because we have a bad environment. They are moving there because it is a wonderful place in which to live, and it has gotten better since George W. Bush became Governor. So let me just set the record straight. We have a patients' bill of rights in Texas. It is the model upon which other States are now basing the laws that they are beginning to pass or look at passing. We have a very good patients' bill of rights because it has an independent review mechanism. You have an internal review and you have an external review. It is an independent review so that the bottom line that we all want will occur, and that is that a patient will get the care the patient and the doctor believe is in the best interest of the patient. That is what a patients' bill of rights is. We also have caps on limits for lawsuits which are allowed after the exhaustion of the internal and external reviews. There are caps on pain and suffering and noneconomic damages. That makes sure that we don't have a plethora of lawsuits, and it would keep the patient and the doctor making the decisions for health care in the forefront of our interest. So it is a model law. It is a good law. Whatever misrepresentations have been made about it, the Governor allowed it to become law. It happened on his watch. Secondly, we are very proud of the improvements we are making in our public education system. Most States are not satisfied with where they are in public education. Texas is working very hard to improve our public education system, and under the leadership of Governor George W. Bush we are winning. Test scores are going up and, most especially, the test scores are going up in the minority communities. That is one of the focuses that Governor Bush has made in my home State of Texas because we all looked at the high school dropout rate. We were all unsatisfied with that number. We said, what can we do, especially in our Hispanic community, where the high school dropout rate is the highest per capita? We said, we have to go back to the basics. That is what Governor Bush did. He went back to the basics and he put the resources into it. That is about $8 million more than had been spent before. He said, we are going to go to the third grade level and that is going to be the firewall. We are going to test children in preschool; we are going to test them in the first grade and in the second grade. But if they can't read at grade level in the third grade, they will not be promoted to the fourth grade because we know that if children can't read at the early stages, they will never be able to reach their full potential in the public education system. That was the initiative of Governor Bush and, I might add, along with a great house speaker, Pete Leahy, a Democrat, and a Lieutenant Governor--at the time it was Bob Bullock, a Democrat; today, it is Rick Perry, a Republican. But we do work in a bipartisan way in the legislature. We always have in Texas. That is something that we have done since the days I served in the Texas legislature. We worked together, Democrats and Republicans. It is why I was so surprised when I came to the Senate and it didn't work that way here. We are not used to doing business that way. With all due respect, I think Texas has it right because after the elections in Texas, we come together--the Governor and the legislature--to do what is best for the children and the people of Texas. Wouldn't it be refreshing if that were the case in Washington, DC? Wouldn't it be refreshing if the leadership that Governor Bush has shown, along with Pete Leahy and Bob Bullock, could be transferred to Washington, DC, with President Bush and Tom Daschle and Richard Gephardt? Wouldn't that be refreshing? That is what Governor Bush would like to do because we think it works. We know it works because the test scores show that it works. Madam President, we are making a huge leap in the right direction for improving public education, and we are going to the heart of the matter. We are making sure our children in the third grade can read, and we are focusing on the basics. We are focusing on reading, writing, arithmetic, history. All of us have seen these polls of young people in our country where the television person walks up to the young person and says: What is the only State in America that is totally surrounded by water? The young person can't answer the question. We know Hawaii is the answer, but I think we should focus on the basics--geography and history. That is what we are trying to do in Texas, and that is the kind of leadership we need for this country. So I hope that we will examine the record in Texas in a positive way--or even in a neutral way, for Heaven's sake--because if you are neutral, you would see that Texas is a great place in which to live; that we have a great quality of life. Do we have problems? Sure. Are we working on those problems? Yes. We are doing it under the leadership of our Governor, George W. Bush. Let me say, too, that we are also making great strides on the environment. We have a particular problem, particularly in Houston, TX, where 50 percent of the chemical refining plants in the world are located--the petrochemical refining plants. Fifty percent of the petrochemicals in the world are located on the gulf coast between Houston and Victoria. I see that my time is up. I will step back and allow others to speak, but I will not step back if the record of Texas is misrepresented. I am here to stand for the facts and the good record of our Governor and our great State. I yield the floor.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize Mr. David M. Laney, who soon will complete his term as a member of the Texas Transportation Commission. Governor George W. Bush appointed Mr. Laney to the commission in April 1995, designating him chairman and Commissioner of Transportation. In April 2000, he stepped down as Commissioner of Transportation, serving the remainder of his term as a member of the commission. During his term on the commission, Mr. Laney has been the champion of the state's efforts to increase the state's share of federal transportation dollars returning to Texas. As chairman, he was a partner to the Texas Congressional delegation's efforts to develop fairer highway funding formulas, promoting the efforts of a coalition of ``donor'' states to work with Congress toward achieving at least a 90.5 percent return on payments into the Highway Trust Fund. As a result of our efforts, Texas received an increase of more than $700 million annually in federal highway funds and David Laney deserves a great deal of the credit. In addition, he promoted increased federal funding for the nation's general aviation and reliever airports, which Congress provided in the Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR 21). Finally, Mr. Laney has been a strong advocate for the state's small urban and rural transit systems, working with Congress to provide much needed discretionary funding to address the vehicle replacement needs of these vital transportation systems, the most extensive in the nation. With these additional funds for Texas transportation programs, the commission will be better able to meet the tremendous transportation demands of the growing regional and international trade traffic in Texas. With a look to the future, as Commissioner of Transportation Mr. Laney led the Texas Department of Transportation in its efforts to obtain the flexible financing tools it needs to help address transportation needs in Texas. He was successful in working with the Texas Legislature to create the Texas Turnpike Authority Division of the department, which provides toll-funding options for the state's major transportation projects. With his strong support and encouragement, the division has applied for and expects to receive an $800 million loan under the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act for a major Central Texas turnpike project. Under Mr. Laney's leadership, the commission has used the Texas State Infrastructure Bank, authorized under the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995, to provide needed assistance to localities to help move forward important transportation projects. Mr. Laney also initiated a major Texas border strategy to address the demands of international trade traffic. Throughout his tenure on the commission, Mr. Laney has provided strong and confident leadership to the Texas Department of Transportation, promoting the development of a first-class Texas transportation system. His legacy is a transportation agency with a menu of solid financial and operational tools providing a safe, effective, and environmentally-sensitive transportation system for the people of Texas and the nation. His dedication to transportation and his strong leadership on the commission will be missed. Mr. President, I know my fellow Texans join me in this expression of appreciation to David Laney for his exemplary leadership on the Texas Transportation Commission.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, today we are considering the Conference report for the District of Columbia. This conference report also includes the Commerce, Justice, State appropriations act. We crafted a good bill in conference. We have fully funded the D.C. tuition program--which allows D.C. high school students greater educational choices beyond the border of this City. We have fully funded the new metro station in the New York Avenue corridor, which I know is important to the economic development of the City. We have $3 million in funding for the Poplar Point environmental clean up. We have increased funding for the Courts. The salaries of Court employees are 19 percent below the level of federal court employees-- thus--it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep a quality workforce. Our bill also increases the budget for offender services so that we continue the program of drug testing and treatment for offenders who are on probation or awaiting trial. Much as been said in the past about ``riders'' to the District budget. This year, we have eliminated over 30 of last year's riders. The bill will authorize the District's planned tobacco securitization program--the proceeds of which will be used to reduce debt or build reserves. With respect to the District's reserves, we have restructured the reserve funds of the District so they can function more efficiently. This is probably the most important reform in this bill. The District is supposed to hold a $150 million reserve now--and a budget surplus of 4 percent of revenues. But we found last year that the District wanted to dip into the emergency reserve funds for things that are considered ordinary expenses. We also found that the reserves were really hollow--entirely dependent on how much cash flow the District had on any given day. I didn't think this was good enough for this City. The bond markets want and need reassurance that the District's financial turnaround is sound. We have restructured the District's reserves so that they will have both an emergency reserve and a contingency reserve. This is modeled on the practices of other cities. And, most importantly, when established, these reserves will be in cash and will be held in separate accounts, earning interest. The contingency reserve, which will be 3 percent of their budget, is for unanticipated expenses, like court orders, new federal mandates or extremely bad weather. It will be more flexible. The emergency reserve, which will be 4 percent of their budget, is for extraordinary needs, like natural disasters. It will be the backing for the financial soundness we seek. In consultation with the CFO and the Mayor, we allow the District a seven year glide path to establish these reserves, but both have assured me the tobacco securitization program will be used to fund this emergency requirement now. There could be no better use than this and debt reduction. The District has had a dramatic financial recovery. I consider this the last leg of the financial plan. This will serve as a true ``rainy day'' fund--one that is ready and able to be tapped in those circumstances. To conclude, although the President has indicated he has reservations about the CJS bill--he has indicated that the D.C. portion of the conference report is a bill he would sign. Madam President, let me now turn to the Commerce, Justice, State provisions. I want to thank the Chairman and the Ranking Member for their work on this bill. They have worked very hard to put more federal resources on our border, though we still have a long way to go. These are not resources just for Texas. The drugs that come into the United States along the Southwest border will find their way into every city in the United States. The Southwest border is ground zero in the war against drugs. Making our border more secure--makes every American city more secure from the scourge of drugs. The Conference report provides for the hiring of over 400 new border agents. I would have preferred a higher number--but the Administration has dragged its feet on higher agents in the past--so we know this is a realistic goal for next year. It provides $15 million in equipment upgrades for the border patrol. It provides greater funding for DEA, with emphasis on helping drug threats at the State and local level. The Conference report also addresses the ``upstream'' effect of more law enforcement on the border. What has happened is this: as we have increased our law enforcement presence on the border--a strain has been felt on our judiciary system. This bill provides for 13 new U.S. Attorneys along the Southwest border--where they are desperately needed. The five U.S. courts along the border are the busiest courts in the Nation--handling 26 percent of all the criminal cases in the United States. These new positions are desperately needed. The bill also provides for two new Federal judges one in the Southern and one in the Western judicial district in Texas. I sponsored the bill to create 13 new judgeships along the border. I would have preferred the full number of judgeships, but I am pleased the Committee has accommodated the need for new judges in my State. The bill does not provide badly needed salary increases for border patrol agents, which the Senate has passed and fought to produce. I will continue to press to bring our Border Patrol in line with all other border government salary schedules. It is regrettable that the President has threatened to veto this bill, particularly over the immigration provision. I believe we have struck a balanced approach on this issue in this bill. President Clinton's plan would grant broad amnesty to immigrants that arrived between 1982 and 1986. Our Border Patrol Officers have said ``a new amnesty would encourage innumerable others to break our laws in the future.'' I couldn't agree more. Our proposal would provide greater due process to those who believe they were wrongly denied amnesty. We also shorten the waiting period for spouses and children to join their relatives in the United States. These relatives will likely be able to immigrate legally soon, but we allow them to come to the U.S. while their petitions are awaiting action. This is a reasonable proposal the President should accept. Madam President, I will yield the floor and urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. I thank the Chair.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that after the Senator from Missouri speaks, we extend the time for the majority and the minority equally by 15 minutes each; 15 minutes for the majority, 15 minutes for the minority.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Will the Senator yield? Mr. President, I ask how much time is left in morning business so I can ask unanimous consent that I have time after the Senator from Missouri has spoken. Could the Presiding Officer tell me what the time limit at this point is?

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, it looks as though we are going to have to respond to the many charges that are being made on the Senate floor in the Presidential campaign. I am sorry it has come to that because I don't like to see that happening on the Senate floor. I am committed to not letting the record go unchallenged when I know for a fact the record is being misrepresented. In fact, the Senator from Massachusetts earlier this afternoon misrepresented the facts about Governor Bush's record in Texas. I am very proud to say that Governor Bush has an outstanding record in Texas; that Texas is a great place to live; that Texas has surpassed New York now to be the second largest State in America. That is because so many people are choosing to come to Texas to live. They are coming for a variety of reasons. Quality of life is No. 1. A good solid public education system that is improving every day is another. Quality health care is another. We have many reasons to be proud of the record of our State and the Governor and the legislature of our State. I will address first the issue of education. This has been the most egregious misrepresentation. In fact, the Rand organization that does research into many areas put out just this last July a comprehensive study of public education reforms in our country. The report based its analysis on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests given between 1990 and 1996. The authors ranked the 44 participating States by raw achievement scores, by scores that compare students from similar families and by score improvements. They also analyzed which policies and programs accounted for the substantial differences in achievements across States that can't be explained by demographics. What they were doing is taking 44 States that had significant public education reforms and determining what worked and what didn't. I will read directly from the press release that was issued by the Rand Corporation. Math scores are rising across the country at a national average rate of about one percentile point per year, a pace outstripping that of the previous two decades and suggesting that public education reforms are taking hold. Progress is far from uniform, however. One group of states--led by North Carolina and Texas and including Michigan, Indiana and Maryland--boasts gains about twice as great as the national average. I just learned that Senator Kennedy made the charge that Texas is dead last in public education. I think the Rand study released in July of this year that looked at a comprehensive set of scores from 44 States should be given some weight. No. 2, from the Rand report: Even more dramatic contrasts emerge in the study's pathbreaking, cross-State comparison of achievement by students from similar families. Texas heads the class in this ranking. . . . I am not going to read the names of the States that are at the bottom because I don't think it is necessary. Texas is No. 1. Although the two States are close demographic cousins, Texas students, on average, scored 11 percentile points higher on the NAEP math and reading tests than their . . . counterparts. In fact, the Texans performed well with respect to most States. On the fourth grade NAEP math tests in 1996, Texas non-Hispanic white students and black students ranked first compared to their counterparts in other States, while Hispanic students ranked fifth. The report goes on to say: The most plausible explanation for the remarkable rate of math gains by North Carolina and Texas is the integrated set of policies involving standards, assessment and accountability that both States implemented in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I remind you that Governor Bush was elected in 1994 in Texas. That is when we started beginning to see the results of the reforms that have taken place. Let's talk about Governor Bush's record. Since being elected Governor, George Bush has seen minority test scores increase by 85 percent. Overall test passage rates increased by 38 percent. Governor Bush and the legislature, working together, increased teacher salaries by one-third since his election, increased public funding of education by $8 billion, and per pupil expenditures have increased by 37 percent. Under Governor Bush's education reform plan, social promotions were ended. We spent $200 million in new early education funding to make sure all third graders read at grade level. That is the emphasis Governor Bush has made in Texas that is beginning to reap the great rewards shown by the students who have been tested in these recent tests that are now being studied. In fact, Texas is at the top of the class. It is because they are going to the third grade level to target students who don't have reading skills. Governor Bush believes that if a child can't read at grade level in the third grade, of course, the child is going to have trouble going through the public education system. It does not take a rocket scientist to know if the child is trying to progress without reading skills, the child is going to fall behind. That is what we are trying to correct in Texas, and it is working. It is working. That is why our test scores are skyrocketing. I think we need to put to rest all of the misinformation that is out there about the Texas public education system. We are very proud that we are putting the money into the system; we are increasing teacher's salaries; we are attracting more teachers so that our teacher shortages will go down. Most public schools have teacher shortages, and we are trying to address that issue with creativity. We are trying to attract people into the classroom who have specific skills that we don't have in the classroom now because of the teacher shortages. So we are targeting math and science and languages and computer skills. We are looking to retired military people, people retired from industry, and we are trying to attract them to the teaching profession because we think it is so important that our young people have access to this kind of quality in the classroom. We in Texas stand second to none in the improvements in our public education system, and it is going nowhere but up. We know if we can catch those children in the third grade, they are going to have a chance to reach their full potential, and that is what Governor Bush is doing in Texas and what he wants to do for our country. Let's talk about health care. Governor Bush and the Texas Legislature have led the effort to enact the Nation's first comprehensive Patients' Bill of Rights. In fact, Texas has a Patients' Bill of Rights, and it is a terrific program. It is working. It is working because we have an independent review process, because we are targeting health care; we are not targeting trial lawyers being able to sue HMOs--although that is allowed if all of the appeals are exhausted. It is allowed, but there are caps on noneconomic damages. So that brings more reasonable limits to irrational lawsuits, but it allows the protection of the patient who doesn't get the good care. But the focus is not on retribution; the focus is on getting health care in the first place. It doesn't help the patient to be able to sue later for a terrible accident. What we want is for the health care decisions to be made by the patient and the doctor. That is what the Patients' Bill of Rights does in Texas. It became law while Governor Bush was our Governor, working with our bipartisan legislature. Today, we have 100,000 children enrolled in the CHIP program. We will enroll 425,000 by the end of next year. We are in the process of educating parents about who is eligible for the CHIP program. We are going to reach every child who is eligible for this program so that our children will have health care. Let me tell you what Governor Bush and the legislature did to make sure of that coverage. They allocated the largest part of the tobacco settlement that Texas got to the CHIP program for health insurance for every child in Texas, and they put into a trust fund billions of dollars from which the interest will go to every county in Texas for the purpose of providing indigent health care in those counties because, of course, in many counties in Texas the buck stops with them for the provision of health care for their indigent population. This money will come in perpetuity to every one of the 254 counties in Texas. Every one of those counties will participate in the interest on that trust fund for their health care needs in that county, and that is a huge help for those counties providing that health care. That was done under the leadership of Governor Bush and the great speaker of the Texas House and the Lieutenant Governor of Texas. It was a bipartisan effort that made that happen. So I think our Texas health care system is very sound. I have heard a lot of charges being made about the quality of our public education and our health care, and I just happen to know firsthand that those making the charges are misinformed. I don't think we need to run down one of the great States in our Nation in order to get advantages in the Presidential race. I am disappointed, frankly, in my colleagues who would do this. I am disappointed that they don't have enough to say about their views and their visions for our country, that they have to come to the Senate floor and run down Texas in their campaign for President of the United States. I don't think it is necessary, I don't think it is proper, and I don't think it is seemly. I think we can do better in this country, and I don't think--at least I hope that not one person in this country is going to have his or her vote swayed because of what is happening in Texas. I would like to think that if people are looking at Texas they have the facts and that they have a good feeling about my great State. I certainly don't think running down my State is the way to run a Presidential campaign because people are moving to our State by the thousands. That is why Texas is now the second largest State in America--surpassing New York. They are coming there because it is a good climate in which to do business; it is a good climate in which to create jobs; and it is a good climate in which to raise a family. It is a good place to live. And we have a Governor who has contributed a whole lot to make that happen. We have a great legislature that has worked with our Governor in a bipartisan way. That is what our Governor would like to bring to the Congress. We would like to be able to work in a bipartisan way to make the laws that will achieve the dreams of every American child. We would like to have cooperation between the Republicans and the Democrats. But I don't think we are fostering cooperation when people come to the Senate floor and run down my State. I don't think that is very bipartisan, and I don't think it is very honorable. I hope we can turn off the Texas bashing. I hope we can talk about the dreams and aspirations of our Presidential candidate. I hope we can give Governor Bush the credit for the reforms in the public education system that are making such a difference in the lives of so many Texans. Our children are learning to read and they are beginning to like school. They are wanting to stay in school, and they are not going to drop out of high school if they have a chance to see that their public education is going somewhere. We are giving hope to our children. We are taking care of them. That is what we should all want for all of our States. I don't think we should have to continually come to the floor to defend our State. I hope I don't have to do it again. But I guarantee that I will be here again if I hear that one of my colleagues is bashing Governor Bush and the State of Texas. Every time I hear that is happening, I am going to come to the floor and I am going to ask for time to set the record straight because the record is a good one. The record is one of education reform that has a goal, that allows every child in Texas to reach his or her full potential, and a goal that we want for every State in this country. We want no child to be left behind. We want every child to reach his or her full potential with a public education--not that we don't wish the children who have private education well. We want them to have those choices. We want children to be able to go to private schools, or parochial schools, or public schools, or charter schools. We want all the options out there because we believe with all of the options that every child will then have a chance to do what is best for that child, and we believe the base of all of this is a strong system of public education. We believe that a public education that has competition is a better public education. That is why we want the choices and the creativity for our children's education. I hope this is the end of Texas bashing. I hope this is the end of our congressional session so we can have our Presidential campaign on the merits so that the people of our country will be able to listen to the Presidential candidates. But I don't think we need to have a Presidential race that runs down the State of one of our candidates. Thank goodness we don't see that happening on the other side of the aisle. The Republicans are not bashing Tennessee. We like Tennessee very much. We don't think it is necessary to run down a State from which another Presidential candidate comes in order to get advantages. We happen to believe Tennessee is a great State. We believe Texas is a great State, too. I hope this is the end of this kind of politicking. I hope it is the end of using the Senate floor for political advantage in the Presidential race. I hope we can give the credit that is deserved to the Governor of Texas and to the Legislature of Texas working together and for their willingness to address the issues of education reform, for their willingness to address the issues related to health care and health care coverage for our children because we have made it a priority in Texas. That is why it is such a terrific State; we believe in the jobs that are created in Texas and the good working people who live in Texas have been able to do very well because we have a healthy climate in Texas and a healthy business climate, as well as a healthy environment and a healthy climate in which to raise families. Those are the fundamentals of what our State has to offer, and it is why so many people are moving to our great State and why we welcome that move. I thank the Presiding Officer for allowing me to correct the record that was created with some misinformation earlier today. I hope we will not have to defend Texas again. I hope we are very close to ending the Texas bashing because I don't think anybody is going to vote against Governor Bush because of misinformation about Texas. I think the people of America are smarter than that. I think the people of America deserve better than that. It is my fervent hope that they are able to hear the candidates' views on the issues without the negative campaigning on what is happening in Texas. I think if anybody would just come to Texas and see for themselves, they would be very pleased with the leadership of Governor Bush and our Texas Legislature. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I commend my colleague from Missouri for bringing up a very important issue.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to H. Con. Res. 396.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of H.R. 3218, which is at the desk.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 733, S. 783, by Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3239, introduced earlier today by Senators Helms and Kennedy.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. 3137.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, we have just passed the Aviation Security Improvement Act of 2000. I am very pleased that we have been able, in a very bipartisan way, to pass this bill. I would like to just talk a little bit about how we came to pass the Aviation Security Act of 2000. Thanks to Senator Slade Gorton, the chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, I was able to chair a hearing in which we heard from the FAA, particularly Admiral Flynn, about the state of our airport security. ``What is the state of our airport security?'' we asked. We wanted to know if we were doing everything we could to give our traveling public the most security possible. Admiral Flynn did a report and shared that with the Members of the Senate who came to the hearing. Every single Senator who attended the hearing became a cosponsor of the bill that we have just passed because there were some areas that we could clearly see needed to be made more strict, more stringent, just to make sure that we take every single measure we can to make our airports totally secure. Not that they are not, but there were some areas in which we could do better. So after the hearing and because of the outstanding testimony of Admiral Flynn of the FAA, we did put together a bill that was quite bipartisan. Chairman John McCain of the Commerce Committee came together with Chairman Slade Gorton of the Aviation Subcommittee. Senators Hollings, Inouye, Bryan, and Rockefeller all became immediate cosponsors of the bill. With that bipartisan group, we were able to make the changes that have been passed by the House and now will go to the President. Six hundred million travelers will pass through U.S. airports. Their safety depends on the soundness of the inspection points and the checkpoints, and we all have been through those monitors and we know how important it is that we have the best equipment and the best trained technicians to make sure we do not have any kind of firearms or explosives of any kind going into our airplanes. So we were able to pass this bill. I just want to make a couple of the points that are important in the bill. First, today, a person who has a lapse in employment history--whether it would be a year, 18 months, 2 years--would have a criminal background check done before they could be hired to be an airport baggage screener. Under the bill that we are passing today, there will be a criminal history record check on every person who becomes a baggage screener. Secondly, we looked at the airport training requirements for airport baggage screeners. We found that in the most industrialized countries there is a minimum of 40 hours of required training before a person can become a baggage screener, but in America the standard is 8 hours. The committee and the Congress believe we need to have more hours of required training and a test for baggage screeners. That will happen because of the bill we have just passed. Third, the security procedures in sensitive areas, such as the air traffic control towers, will be beefed up. And there will be prescribed security protocols and sanctions for people who violate those protocols. And fourth, the new generation of explosive detection systems will be utilized at a higher rate because of the bill we have passed today. I think we have done a very good job. I am very pleased that we had such a bipartisan effort on this piece of legislation. It could not have happened without the House and the Senate working together and so many people who did come into the negotiations on this bill. The leadership of our chairman, John McCain, and our subcommittee chairman, Slade Gorton, were essential, along with Senators Hollings, Inouye, Bryan, and Rockefeller. I also thank the staff who worked so hard. As you know, many times Senators have 10 things that are being asked of them at any one time. Without very good staff work, this would not have passed. So I especially thank my Commerce Committee staff legislative aid, Joe Mondello, who did yeoman service in making sure the bill got through committee and worked out all the little things that came up that could have unraveled the bill and did not. On Senator McCain's staff, Mike Reynolds, and Rob Chamberlin, who also did terrific work in making sure we got this expeditiously through the committee in the last hours of the session, because we did not want to wait 60 days before we could bring this back next year. It is too important. The air traveling public deserve to have the very best airport security. That is what this bill will allow. I believe the President will sign the bill. I urge him to do so. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mrs. HUTCHISON

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I wish to discuss for a moment this Rand report that has been quoted so many times by Senator Kennedy and others. It seems there are some people in the Rand organization who have put something out showing Texas in a bad light in the education system. That was not a full study. Rand actually did a full and comprehensive study. It was released July 25 of this year. I will read a few highlights of the comprehensive study. The study examined and compared the results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress Tests taken between 1990 and 1996 among 44 States. They judged the States according to State score improvements, raw achievement scores, and scores comparing students from similar demographic groups. Results from the Rand study show that math scores in Texas had improved at twice the rate of the national average. Texas was second among all States in improved math scores. Texas leads all States in a comparison of students from similar socioeconomic and family backgrounds. Texas African Americans and non-Hispanic white fourth graders ranked first on this test in math in 1996. Texas Hispanic fourth graders ranked fifth. The study confirms earlier reports that Texas is one of two States that has made the greatest overall academic gains in recent years. The report went on to say one reason why Texas has been so successful, according to the Rand study, has been the higher percentage of teachers who are satisfied with their teaching resources. Governor Bush provided those resources. He wants to do the same thing through initiatives such as Reading First, at the Federal level, which would offer training and a curriculum for teaching reading to K-through-12 teachers. Governor Bush thinks reading is fundamental. I think his mother is the one who started that when she started the Reading First Program for America. He believes if a child can read, that child is going to be able to take the next steps in public education. That is why Governor Bush put the resources there in Texas. That is why the real Rand study that was comprehensive showed the great improvement in Texas. That is why his education plans for America will work because we want no child to be left behind in Texas or any other State. I hope the campaign rhetoric doesn't hit the Senate floor again. I am not going to stand here and I am not going to sit in my office and listen to anyone else use Texas as a whipping boy, A, because Texas is a great State; B, we have a great Governor; C, the things that are being said are misrepresentations; and D, in Texas, where we have been behind in the past, Governor Bush has said we are going to get ahead. We are tackling our problems. Every State has problems. I am proud of the leadership in Texas of our Speaker, Pete Laney and our Lieutenant Governor, Rick Perry, and our Governor, George Bush, who have worked together in a bipartisan way to make sure the resources are going into public education and into our children's health insurance program. It was our legislative leaders working with Governor Bush who said our entire State tobacco settlement would go to fund the children's health insurance program, and they took a huge part of our State tobacco settlement and put it in a trust fund in which every county in Texas will participate in perpetuity for the treatment of our indigent health care patients all over Texas. That was the leadership of our State legislature, and our Governor. Because they do want quality health care for all our Texas residents. Maybe I am a little biased, but I think I come from a very great State. I think the statistics prove it. I do not want to hear anyone else say that Texas is not meeting its responsibilities in education, in health insurance, in patients' rights--because we are a leader. We are a leader and we want everyone in America to have the quality of public education that we are building to get in Texas. We want every child in America to reach his or her full potential. We want every child to have health insurance coverage. We want every person in Texas to have quality health care. That is why all of our tobacco settlement is going for health care or education programs to educate young people on the hazards of smoking. That is it, that is the entire use of our tobacco money: to educate young people on the hazards of smoking and health care for every citizen of Texas who needs it. I am very proud of our record. I am proud of our Governor and I think he is the person who can bring these qualities to the United States. I yield the floor.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. I am happy to yield to the Senator.