Jim Jeffords

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and the preamble be agreed to, en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements related thereto be placed in the Record at the appropriate place.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 264, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, on Tuesday, the Senate will convene at 11 a.m., and begin a period of morning business until 12 noon. Following morning business, the Senate will await the outcome of the negotiations on the omnibus appropriations bill. As a reminder to all Members, it is hoped that the remaining legislation of the 105th Congress can be disposed of by unanimous consent. However, if a rollcall vote is needed on the omnibus bill, all Members will be given ample notice in order to plan their schedules accordingly. I have one more unanimous consent request.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill appear at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent that the substitute amendment be agreed to.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, Senator Lugar has a substitute amendment at the desk, and I ask for its consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. I understand Senator Glenn has a substitute amendment at the desk, and I ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar No. 386, S. 1642.

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill appear at the appropriate place in the Record, without intervening action.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill be printed at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk and ask for its consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, Senator Frist has a substitute amendment at the desk, and I ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Labor Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1722 and that the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent the substitute be agreed to, the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, Senator Chafee has a substitute amendment at the desk. I ask for its consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 575, S. 2364.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to; that the preamble be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the concurrent resolution be printed at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Energy Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 123 and, further, that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. I further ask consent that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 1259, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof. I further ask consent that the bill then be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record, and finally S. 1259 be placed back on the calendar.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 466, S. 1259.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Senator Snowe has a substitute amendment at the desk. I ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, over the past several days, the White House has bombarded the airwaves with rhetoric suggesting that congressional Republicans have turned a deaf ear to the needs of our nation's students. Hearing all this, I have to say I feel like I have entered a parallel universe. Less than one week ago, I was standing in that same White House listening to the President laud one of the most significant bipartisan achievements of the 105th Congress--enactment of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. Lost in all the pre-election maneuvering is any recognition of the solid record of accomplishment by this Congress on behalf of students from pre-school through graduate school. I would like to take a few minutes to review that record. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) One of the first measures considered by the 105th Congress was the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997. The development of this legislation involved a level of cooperation which is virtually unprecedented--between Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, and Congress and the Administration. The leadership demonstrated by Senator Lott was critical to the success of this effort, as was the many hours of work by my colleagues on the Labor and Human Resources Committee--particularly Senators Kennedy, Coats, Harkin, Frist, Dodd, and Gregg. The result of this bipartisan effort is a law which strengthens our assistance to States for making a free appropriate public education available to children with disabilities. Major principles underlying the reauthorization bill included: placing an emphasis on prevention; basing procedures and paperwork on common sense and accountability for results; developing a coherent policy for dealing with disciplinary actions; and offering local school districts options for fiscal relief. In addition, we have followed up words with action by providing substantial funding increases for IDEA. I was extremely disappointed that the Administration's fiscal year 1999 budget included no increase for special education funding for children with disabilities from 3 through 21 years of age--not even an adjustment for inflation. Fortunately, due to the prodding of Senator Gregg and others, Congress had increased special education funding by more than 60 percent over the past two years. In fiscal year 1996, we provided about $2.3 billion for IDEA state grants. That figure was increased to $3.1 billion in FY 1997 and increased again to $3.8 billion in FY 1998. We expect to add at least another $500 million this year. Taxpayer Relief Act Bipartisan cooperation also led to the inclusion of a substantial investment in education as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act signed into law last summer. This act contains 11 types of education tax breaks amounting to $40 billion over 5 years--the most significant of which is the HOPE Scholarship credit. Emergency Student Loan Consolidation Act Late last year, the President signed into law a measure designed to provide relief to borrowers who were unable to consolidate their student loans due to the suspension of the Direct Loan consolidation loan program. On August 26, 1997, the Department of Education suspended its consolidation loan program in an effort to deal with the backlog of 84,000 applications which had piled up prior to that time. National Science Foundation This summer, Congress completed action on the first major reform of the National Science Foundation in a decade. Approved unanimously by both bodies of the Congress, this legislation responds to our Nation's changing research and technology needs and provides $11 billion over three years to ensure our continued world leadership in science and technology. As a result of leadership provided by members of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, particularly Senators Kennedy, Frist, Dodd, and Collins, these funds will be used to support more than 19,000 competitively awarded projects at over 2,000 colleges, universities, elementary schools, and high schools. Through this authorization, we provided for the greatest investment in basic math, science, and engineering research in our Nation's history. An often overlooked feature of the measure is the dramatic investment being made to develop and strengthen our Nation's human resources. The reauthorization bill reflects the critical need for greater investment in systemic education reform, professional development, curriculum reform, as well as informal science education. It provides more than $1.2 billion over three years to strengthen our nation's capacity to teach math and science to secondary and elementary students. More than $300 million of these funds will be used to ensure that our Nation's math and science teachers have the knowledge and skills they need to prepare their students. Another $300 million will be used to support model efforts at systemic education reform. An additional $800 million will be used to strengthen the quality and availability of math, science and engineering education at our nation's colleges and universities. Adult Education and Family Literacy Yet another example of the progress which can be made when partisan differences are set aside is legislation signed into law by the President this August, which supports programs that assist educationally disadvantaged adults in developing basic literacy skills, achieving high school equivalency certification, and learning English. These provisions comprised the education component of comprehensive legislation known as the Workforce Investment Act to which Senators Kennedy, DeWine, and Wellstone made significant contributions throughout the process. The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act provides assistance for those adults most in need of acquiring literacy skills. Of the approximately 4 million adults who annually receive services under this program, 75 percent usually come into the program with below 8th grade literacy skills. This legislation emphasizes the importance of coordinating adult education programs with employment and training activities and family literacy initiatives. It also establishes a comprehensive accountability system to assess the effectiveness of the activities undertaken by States and local communities. The establishment of accountability measures will enable the federal government to optimize its investment in adult education and family literacy activities. This investment stands at $385 million today. Higher Education Act As I mentioned earlier, one of the most significant bipartisan achievements of this Congress is the Higher Education Amendments which were signed into law last week. From the start of this process, in both the House and Senate, the development of this legislation was a joint venture on the part of Republicans and Democrats. In the Senate, I worked closely with Senators Kennedy, Coats, and Dodd each step of the way. In addition, every single member of the Labor and Human Resources Committee--as well as many Members outside the committee--made positive contributions to this measure. Since its inception in 1965, the Higher Education Act has been focused on enhancing the opportunities of students to pursue postsecondary education. The grant, loan, and work study assistance made available by this Act has made the difference for countless millions in pursuing their dreams for a better life. In the face of rising college costs, the 1998 amendments have provided students with the lowest cost loans in nearly two decades. With increasing concern about the quality of our nation's teachers, this act will take giant steps in improving teacher preparation. And with students, parents, and--frankly--Senators concerned about the delivery of student aid, this act completely overhauls the federal role by placing it in the hands of a professional and accountable agency within the Department of Education. I believe the lasting legacy of this reauthorization bill will be its provisions dealing with teachers. At its foundation, it embraces the notion that investing in the preparation of our nation's teachers is a good one. Well prepared teachers play a key role in making it possible for our students to achieve the standards required to assure both their own well being and the ability of our country to compete internationally. In fact, the continued health and strength of our nation depends on our country's ability to improve the education of our young people. Integral to that is the strength and ability of our nation's teaching force. Without a strong, competent, well prepared teaching force, other investments in education will be of little value. carl d. perkins vocational-technical education act The story does not end here, as several other important education initiatives are ``in the pipeline'' on the way to the President. Last week, the House and Senate gave final approval to legislation designed to more fully develop the academic, technical, and vocational skills of secondary and postsecondary students enrolled in vocational and technical education programs in order for the United States to be more competitive in the world economy. This legislation is an important complement to the Workforce Investment Act and benefitted from the same bipartisan teamwork which produced that Act. The Workforce Investment Act streamlined and consolidated a myriad of job training programs and also put into place tough accountability mechanisms. The 1998 Perkins reauthorization emphasizes the important balance between a strong academic background and a vocational and technical education system that reflects today's global economy. There are presently between 200,000 and 300,000 unfilled positions in the technology field. The reason for the difficulty in filling these positions is not because of low unemployment numbers, but because of the lack of skilled workers. These positions require an excellent vocational education system and the ability to pursue further technical education following high school. Reading Excellence Act Also in line for signature by the President is the Reading Excellence Act. The purpose of this legislation is to improve both the reading skills of students and the instructional practices for teachers who teach reading, and to expand family literacy programs--including the Even Start program. States and local communities will work together as a partnership in providing professional development activities to teachers and other instructional staff and in carrying out family literacy efforts. Head Start Under the leadership of Senator Coats, and with the assistance of Senators Dodd and Kennedy, we will also enact this Congress a reauthorization of the Head Start program. Recognizing the critical role of the pre-school years in a young child's development, this legislation expands the Early Head Start program for our youngest children in a manner which balances the desire to make this program available to more children and families and the need to ensure that every Head Start program meets the high standards of quality that we have demanded. The new evaluation and research provisions will provide much-needed information about how the program operates, help identify the ``best practices,'' and will guide the grantees, the Department of Health and Human Services, and Congress to continue the improvements in Head Start which began four years ago. Charter Schools Finally, the President will soon be presented with the Charter School Expansion Act of 1998. Senators Coats and Lieberman are to be particularly commended for their skill and persistence in forging a bipartisan alliance on behalf of this legislation. The purpose of this legislation is to provide financial assistance for the planning, design, and initial implementation of new charter schools. This assistance will enhance the efforts of states and local communities to increase the number of charter schools and will help meet the President's goal of having 3,000 charter schools by the year 2000. In terms of education, I believe that the 105th Congress is among the most productive in my memory. The actions we have taken this Congress touch the lives of students of all ages--from youngsters in Head Start and Even Start, to special education students, to high school vocational students, to college undergraduates and graduate students, to adults in need of remedial education. It is unfortunate that all of this work seems to have been forgotten. It is also unfortunate that no one is acknowledging that congressional Republicans stand ready to spend as much money on education as we have offsets to support. Instead, an effort appears to be underway to convince the American public that failing to fund an untested and unauthorized program to reduce class size should be taken as a sign of total neglect of education by this Congress. The facts just don't support that conclusion. The number of teachers is not as important as the quality of teachers. On the Federal level we must focus on promoting and ensuring quality. We don't necessarily need millions of new teachers-- what we really need are millions of good teachers. To hear the President and his advisers, hiring more teachers and reducing classroom size is the silver bullet which will solve the many deficiencies now plaguing our elementary and secondary schools. What we should all know by now is that there are no silver bullets when it comes to assuring the quality of education. Rather, the only way to achieve the goals we seek is through the constant, day-to-day plugging away on behalf of the highest possible standards in all our education endeavors. I believe that the Congress is doing its part and that we have the legislative record to back that up.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.