Ted Kennedy

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Seeing the Senator from Connecticut here, does my friend from Rhode Island remember that we had a specific vote? I believe it was a vote on a Dodd-Collins amendment, which ended up with 79 votes, Republicans and Democrats alike. Seventy-nine Senators voted for that full funding here on the floor of the Senate. Yet we were unable to get that kind of support from the administration. Republicans, Democrats alike here on the floor of the Senate said this is a priority for us. Does the Senator remember? This is not a partisan issue. We were joined, were we not, by Republican colleagues?

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I welcome the fact that the leadership has given this time to express our strong views on a very important issue, the whole issue, the quality of education for the children of this country. It was just about a year ago, Members--I see Senator Reed of Rhode Island, Senator Dodd from our committee--remember clearly this Nation came together, Republican and Democrat, to sign the No Child Left Behind Act, the gateway of opportunity, of progress, for academic achievement and accomplishment. We all looked forward to smaller classes, better trained teachers, afterschool programs. We looked forward to this with great hope and great anticipation. We looked forward to parental involvement so parents could understand how their children were learning in local schools, with greater accountability for students, for schools, for teachers and parents, and also for the Congress of the United States. As we come to the time of the President of the United States speaking, if we listen carefully to what is happening all across this country, we will hear we have failed in our understanding and commitment to education and the administration has failed in giving life to our promises in the form of resources to make sure those promises are kept. Listen to what the Governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner, said recently: Delaware has asked local school districts to return $10 million from current year budgets. The impact of those kinds of budget- cutting measures takes a tremendous toll in providing enough teachers to continue progress to reduce class size, which is so important to the quality of education. Federal programs, such as No Child Left Behind or IDEA, implemented without adequate Federal funding--no matter that we share the goal and the vision--represent an empty promise. We have had debates here on whether we have provided the resources or not. Let's listen to what is happening across the country. In a Washington Post article today, it says Oregon today is on the verge of cutting 15 days, potentially 24 days, from its school year. The United States ranks 18th among the industrial nations in school year length. How can we expect American schoolchildren to learn in 180 days as much as Korean children learn in 220? And now Oregon may cut back to 165 days of the school year. The New York Times reported on the impact on the children. Linda Pattison, a fourth grade teacher here uses her fingers to check off the lessons that she usually teaches but will skip. Her pupils will not study the metric system, arithmetic, electricity and science, nor Oregon's history and social studies. ``I can only compare this to my divorce,'' said the teacher. More than 100 school districts in 8 States have moved to 4-day weeks to cut costs. Oklahoma City has cut bus service entirely for 1,000 students. In Barnstable, MA, they are charging an additional $200 for music education, $200 for busing, and $1,800 now for all-day kindergarten. In Centennial, MN, schools have upwards of 30 students per class. Class sizes have grown significantly in the last year. In Colton, OR, academic classes in the junior high have as many as 41 students per teacher. That's not education; that's crowd control. I don't fault these communities. They are in a bind. Local schools cannot meet the high standards on a tin-cup budget. I see my colleagues here. I think they would share with me the hope that tonight the President of the United States will make it clear that help is on its way to those families, to those teachers, to those parents; that we believe the investment in those children will make a real difference, in terms of our economy and in their ability to acquire skills. It will make a difference in terms of young people being able to make a difference for our society and for our democracy and for our leadership. This is something I hope, on the one hand, he will explain, why we have not been able to do it and, second, that he will have a change of mind and he will say--again, what I believe this President understands--what we have failed to follow through with, and that is that we are going to invest in our children and our children's education. I thank our colleagues who are here. I see my friends from Rhode Island and Connecticut. I know they want to say a word on the subject.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank my colleagues for their commitment to address these issues.

Mr. KENNEDY. I have offered an amendment to the current legislation that would provide funding for a program to compensate those who suffer injuries from the smallpox vaccine, and to provide States, localities and cities with funding to implement the vaccination program. I understand from my colleagues that, while they are unable to support this amendment, they are willing to work with me on legislation that would provide appropriate compensation for those who may be injured by the vaccine.

Mr. KENNEDY. I am sure that my colleagues appreciate that implementing the smallpox plan will impose significant costs on many communities. We should provide additional resources to allow communities to implement the plan without having to curtail other important health priorities.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I commend the distinguished majority leader and chairman for their commitment to enhancing America's preparedness for bioterrorism. We have worked together successfully for many years to help America prepare more effectively for the threat of biological attack. The Nation is embarking on a program to vaccinate millions of health care and emergency workers against the threat of a potential biological attack using smallpox, and I look forward to working with the distinguished majority leader and chairman to ensure that this program is conducted in a way that properly protects the health and safety of those receiving the vaccine.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is a privilege today to join my colleagues in submitting a resolution recognizing January 2003 as National Mentoring Month. Business, community and media leaders have formed a coalition to raise public awareness about the importance of taking time to make a real difference in the life of a child. Under the impressive leadership of the National Mentoring Partnership and the Harvard School of Public Health, the coalition is sponsoring an advertising campaign to explain the benefits of mentoring for children and mentors alike: Each of us has had adults who have made a positive difference for us, family, teachers, coaches, clergy, neighbors or caring friends who were there to listen and offer guidance. Each of us has the opportunity to offer that same gift to young persons today. Each week with many of my colleagues in the Senate, I read with an elementary school student in the District of Columbia in the Everybody Wins program. During our lunchtime sessions, my first grade partner and I share good books and stories. Whether mentors choose reading programs or some other activity, these times are dedicated to listening and responding to the child's needs. Mentors have busy lives, and every child needs to know that we can make time for them. In States across this country there are long lists of young persons waiting for mentors. This important project will connect new mentors to these waiting children, and enhance the quality of their lives. I urge the Senate to approve it.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. That is fine.

Mr. KENNEDY. I have 2 minutes which I will use.

Mr. KENNEDY. Would the Senator be good enough to repeat?

Mr. KENNEDY. I have 5 minutes remaining?

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, that is what is happening. In too many instances we are finding that those whose skin is not white are being denied medical care. They are being denied the services which are so essential to individuals to improve their kind of health conditions. This is an area we can do something about. We will have broad debates on other kinds of policy issues, but in terms of reducing the disparities and having support for the tried and true programs, this amendment will advance that cause. I hope we can accept it and move on. Mr. President, I withhold the remainder of my time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and the time to be applied equally.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, this is a health amendment. It is related to the broad disparities that exist in health care in our society, which recently the President of the United States has recognized, and also our majority leader. I will take a moment or two to demonstrate these very significant health disparities. This amendment is intended to support and expand some of the existing programs which are in effect and a number of which have been cut very deeply in this omnibus appropriations bill, to restore funding to the appropriations, and then also to meet some of the current needs. Just very quickly, we have nearly one in four African Americans and one in three Hispanics who are uninsured compared to 16 percent of all Americans. The mortality rate for African Americans is 1.6 times higher than for Whites, a ratio that is actually identical to the ratio in 1950. That has not changed since 1950--the last 50 years. The African- American infant mortality rate is twice that of Whites. Diabetes afflicts Hispanics twice as much as Whites. Minorities are less likely to get heart medicines or cardiac surgery or even essential pain medications. African-American men suffer prostate cancer twice as often as White men. This is the reality. And I could go on. There are very dramatic and significant disparities. Take, for example, the health disparities in HIV/AIDS. This chart shows the rate per 100,000 of the population. It is 81.9 among Black Americans, 34.7 among Hispanics, 9.4 among American Indians/Alaskans. And it is 8.4 among the White population. There is a tremendous disparity. What we have seen is that the minority HIV/AIDS initiative faces a devastating cut in this omnibus bill. It is an 85-percent cut. Do we hear that? An 85-percent cut. In 2002, there was $381 million available for the initiative. In the omnibus, it is $50 million. This amendment would put it at $540 million. It would take the $380 million and adjust it to the increased demands we are facing. It is absolutely intolerable that we have seen this dramatic reduction in terms of outreach for services, for prescriptions, for caring among minority populations. I think it is one of the glaring deficiencies of this particular program. Before continuing, I must make a brief comment on today's Washington Post article on the front page where they say the AIDS panel choice wrote of a ``gay plague''--a ``gay plague.'' ``Views of White House Commission Nominee Draw Criticism.'' I would have thought, with all the debate and discussion we have had here on the floor, going back to the debate and discussion on Ryan White, and how we have debated and discussed the NIH budget and other issues relating to minority health, that we could have moved beyond this kind of serious stereotype of characterizing those with HIV or AIDS as part of a ``gay plague.'' Most of us thought this country had gone well beyond that kind of horrible insensitivity. I believe this appointment should be withdrawn. It is an insult to gay Americans, to those who have worked so hard to treat people with AIDS with sensitivity and support. Removing one individual is not enough. We must maintain and expand our commitment to deal with the disease. When it comes to AIDS in the minority community, this appropriations bill is missing in action. This amendment also provides some assistance to the NIH Center on Minorities and Health Disparities to try to make sure that the center, which coordinates a national research agenda on minority health is going to be adequately funded. It also provides a very small and modest increase in the HHS Office for Civil Rights. Many members of the minority community are being excluded from treatment, care, and attention. It is difficult to think that is the case, but that is happening all over this country. The HHS Office for Civil Rights has more than 1,000 complaints on its desk that are being unanswered. We provide a few million dollars, from $33 million up to $48 million, to be able to deal with this. Finally, one of the most important provisions in all of this pertains to programs that are directed to try to help meet the deficiencies in training minority health professionals and support historically Black schools. I just want to point out that in the Clinton year of 2000, funding was $93 million; in 2001, it was $109 million; and in 2002, it was $115 million; but the Bush request for this year is $10 million-- $10 million. There has been an increase in the revised omnibus, but it still shows a blatant and flagrant failure to understand the serious problem in the declining numbers of minority health professionals. These series of programs and the centers of excellence that enable many minorities to make it to schools of professional training--in nursing, dentistry, and medicine--those programs would have effectively been closed down. And the scholarship programs which have been available to minority students effectively would have been drastically reduced. It does seem to me, after all we have heard in the debates over the period of the last 2 weeks, on issues of affirmative action, on issues of civil rights, that the one area on which we could all come together is these extraordinary disparities in health care that have been out there. These are the same disparities that have been around for the last 50 years and, under this omnibus bill, programs that help to alleviate the disparities are being cut back or abandoned in a very significant and important way. This amendment restores those funds and adds additional funding to it to make sure we have realistic levels of assistance to reduce disparities. It does seem that even though we have had debates that have been divisive over recent times, on issues of affirmative action and other judicial issues, we as a Senate ought to be able to come together and say that whether you are going to get care and attention on a particular sickness or disease should not depend on the color of your skin. That is what is happening. Mr. President, I yield myself 2 more minutes.

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

Mr. KENNEDY. I yield myself 2\1/2\ minutes. Mr. President, I would like to call attention to the Labor-HHS appropriations conference report from FY 2002 on the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative. What it shows is the appropriations for HIV/AIDS health programs for FY 2002--$123 million for HRSA; $96 million for CDC; $7 million for SAMHSA/Center for Mental Health Services; $57 million for SAMHSA/Center for Substance Abuse Treatment; $38 million to the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention; $50 million for the Office of the Secretary; $9.7 million for the Office of Minority Health. That adds up to $381 million. The Senate fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations lists $50 million for the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, Office of the Secretary. That is it. It is all listed in very considerable detail in this 2002 report. On the other hand, under this fiscal year 2003, minority HIV/AIDS has just the $50 million, Office of the Secretary. This is extremely important. The 2002 conference report illustrates exactly where the funding has been directed and the support for it. That is completely missing in this proposal. Our amendment addresses these issues and provides the kind of support which will make an important difference in reducing the disparities in health care in our society. Having listened to so many who have spoken so often in the last several days on civil rights, there may be differences on one issue or another affecting civil rights, but we should all come together on this issue to address the disparities in health care which exist. We should go beyond our differences. I reserve the remainder of my time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

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

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I yield myself 8 minutes.

Mr. KENNEDY. What was the request?

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, how much time remains?

Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield for a moment? Does the Senator have the time? I want to commend my friend from Rhode Island. As one of the authors of the S-CHIP Program, we gave the States an opportunity to use the money and then we provided, if they did not use the money, that States that were attempting to cover the children would have some access to it and then eventually it would go back to the Treasury. We are finding out now that there are a number of States that are prepared to go ahead and insure these children. This program is so enormously important, because if you put it with the Medicaid Program, there is no real reason why any child in America isn't covered with some form of health insurance. I commend the Senator from Rhode Island. This program was agreed to and accepted in a strong bipartisan way. As author, along with my friend from Utah, Senator Hatch, if we had just not provided this provision and let the States have a little more time to implement it, we would have a lot more children covered. This makes a great deal of sense. It is focused and it is a successful program. The point the Senator from Rhode Island makes is that it will ensure that hundreds of thousands of more children will be protected with health insurance. I thank the Senator.

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the leaders.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I yield myself 1 additional minute. What do these cuts mean? They mean 10,000 minority women and children, including HIV-infected pregnant women, will lose medical care under title IV of Ryan White; 11,000 minority patients in the hardest hit cities will lose lifesaving drugs and critical medical care through title I of Ryan White; another 5,000 minority patients will lose medical care funded through State governments under title II of Ryan White. These are just some of what will happen unless we make major changes in the omnibus appropriations bill, and my amendment does that. I withhold my remaining time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, my good friend from Alaska has alleged that the appropriations bill already has funds for minority health. The fact is that this bill dramatically cuts funding for minority AIDS treatment and prevention. It cuts the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Minority Health, and it has a small, inadequate increase for other minority health problems. Let me focus on what this bill does for minority AIDS. Bear in mind that we have an epidemic of AIDS in the minority community that is killing and infecting minority men and women and children every day. Last year's appropriations bill set aside $123 million for AIDS efforts out of the Health Resources and Service Administration for the minority AIDS program. That is the Ryan White Program. You can search this Senate appropriations bill from cover to cover. You will not find it; it is not there. You will find $96 million for prevention and tracking of AIDS through the CDC set-aside for minorities in last year's bill. You can look cover to cover in this Senate bill and you won't find it; it is not there. The list goes on. So what does it mean to reject this amendment? It means that thousands of minority students will not enter the health professions to become doctors and nurses and scientists. It means civil rights violations will continue to go uninvestigated and unpunished. It means tens of thousands of minority men, women, and children with AIDS will not get the medical care they need, and prevention efforts will be reduced. On this Dr. Martin Luther King birthday week, let us stand up for minority health. Let us do what the new majority leader has said we should do and put new emphasis on minority health. Let us do what the true spirit of America calls us to do. Let us try to bring the blessing of good health to all of our people.