Ted Kennedy

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the Chair.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I am absolutely amazed and shocked at the comments of the Senator from Virginia, talking about drugs, guns, and bombs. Why didn't they call 911? They can be held and expelled. Now we are finding out what this is all about: Guns, drugs, and bombs in schools--that disabled children are doing it? Demonstrate it. I give you the General Accounting Office report that says there is no such thing that is happening. This is not something we are proposing. This is a study on discipline and school behavior. If you can find the words ``guns, bombs, and drugs'' in here, go ahead and find them. It reaches entirely different conclusions.

Mr. KENNEDY. No, I don't yield. You talk about it, that it comes up in campaigns. You bet it does. And we have just heard it, we have just seen it. We just heard and understand the reasons. If there is a problem, as the Senator from Alabama says, we don't find it in the General Accounting Office report. Anyone can get anecdotal information that there is a problem here and there in some schools. But that just doesn't happen. That is not the case. That is not what the General Accounting Office in its report of January of this year stated.

Mr. KENNEDY. If you have a different conclusion from that, present it. But just to say look, there are guns, bombs, and drugs, all these disabled children all over, disrupting, disrupting--we are used to that. We have heard that kind of presentation. That is not what this is about. These children have faced these challenges along the line. This is what the General Accounting Office report says.

Mr. KENNEDY. I have limited time, Senator. I was here last evening ready to debate it, and I was here earlier ready to debate it. Mr. ALLEN addressed the Chair.

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask for order, Mr. President. Who has the floor?

Mr. KENNEDY. How much time do I have?

Mr. KENNEDY. I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes. This is what it says: Special education students who are involved in serious misconduct are being disciplined in generally a similar manner to regular education students, based on the information principals reported to us and our review. [P]rincipals generally rated their school's special education discipline policies . . . as having a positive or neutral effect on the level on [school] safety and orderliness. That is what this report, the General Accounting Office report, says: Based on our analysis of disciplinary actions and past research, regular education and special education . . . were treated in a similar manner. There is the General Accounting Office report. We have, with 1 hour on the reauthorization of this act, a proposal that is going to take away the kind of education support systems the Federal Government pays for--not Virginia pays for but the Federal Government pays for. That is the effect of it. You wanted to wipe that out. The amendment Senator Harkin has introduced is very clear in what it permits, what it allows. The amendment says that students with disabilities will continue to have services, even if they are suspended or expelled. It retains the noncessation of service provisions in current law and ensures that behavioral supports are available to children so they may continue to learn.

Mr. KENNEDY. I will take the last minute. We are agreeing with Senator Sessions; a uniform policy for students with or without disabilities is appropriate. Where we differ is in the ultimate outcome. If you want to change the IDEA law, let's do it when we do reauthorization. I have invited the Senator from Alabama to come to our hearing. I will invite the Senator from Virginia to come and make the presentation. But to change this march we have had--not since 1994, but many of us have been here since 1974, at a time when 5 million children were being put in closets and not educated--not 1994, and we know who has been discriminated against--we are not going to march backward. This is a major retreat in providing mainstreaming for the children of this country which is not only the right educational policy and the right, decent thing to do, but is also commanded to be done by the Supreme Court. I hope the amendment of the Senator from Alabama is defeated and the amendment of the Senator from Iowa is accepted.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, the Helms amendment is a solution in search of a problem. The Senator from North Carolina says his amendment is needed because schools are excluding the Boy Scouts from using their facilities, and this is simply not true. Just this week, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the right of groups such as the Boy Scouts to use public school facilities. This amendment is about punishing schools that decided to no longer sponsor the Boy Scouts because of their exclusionary membership policy. Currently, 359 school districts, with a total of 4,418 schools in 10 States, including Massachusetts, no longer sponsor the Boy Scouts. This is the statute in my State of Massachusetts: Extracurricular activities, advantages, and privileges of public schools include all extracurricular activities made available, sponsored, or supervised by any public school. No school shall sponsor or participate in the organization of outside extracurricular activities conducted at such school that restricts student participation on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation. This does not prohibit school committees from allowing the use of school premises by independent groups with restrictive membership. Therefore, they can use the facilities. The Massachusetts statute indicates they can't be made to sponsor. The Helms amendment is attempting to override the State statute and the decisions being made locally. I think that is unwise, unnecessary, and wrong. Although the schools do not sponsor the Boy Scouts, the Scouts are still given access to school facilities as any other group. The Boy Scouts may have a constitutional right to use public school facilities. They do not have the right to demand school sponsorship. Yet that is exactly what the amendment allows them to do. The amendment also contains a harsh punishment on the schools that decide no longer to sponsor the Boy Scouts with the loss of all Federal education funds. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against the Helms amendment. Madam President, we have been on the floor for 8 weeks attempting to try to fashion and shape legislation that was going to enhance the education of children all over this country. We have a good bill, and it seems to me to be unwise in that effort to bring effectively something that these children have no control over. We are giving accountability to the children to exceed themselves in the challenge they are facing. We put additional challenges on teachers, on parents, on schools. We are encouraging the States for greater participation and involvement. Now we have this amendment, the results of which would deny the benefits of the advantages of this legislation to reach many different children in our country. It seems to me to be unwise. I hope the amendment is defeated.

Mr. KENNEDY. I listened to the Senator from West Virginia. A similar amendment has already passed in the House of Representatives, so we have the House language and this language. It is identical. If we follow past precedence, there is not the flexibility to take into consideration what the Senator from West Virginia has requested. That, I think, is part of the reality in terms of the way these institutions run. They have passed a similar amendment by a voice vote, we passed an amendment, and for all intents and purposes that is what will be before the conference. If we follow the precedent, that flexibility that the Senator had mentioned would not be before the conference.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, the Senator from Iowa is not here. I will take one moment. We have fought for 25 years to try to mainstream disabled children. I remember when there were 5 million who were kept in the closets and shut away. IDEA may not be perfect, but we have a GAO study, which is an authoritative study, that says the changes that were made 2 years ago on discipline seem to be working. The previous vote was 50-50. We are divided. Next year we are going to have a complete reauthorization of IDEA. Why have a major step backward in terms of assisting the children in this country? If we have to change it, let's do it at the time we have the reauthorization--not on the basis of a 50-50 vote or 1 hour of debate and discussion on this measure. Make no mistake about it. If we accept the Sessions amendment, history will record this as the first major step backward instead of forward with regard to disabled children.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, this might not be the case, but there is a possibility that it might be the case, and that is, to my knowledge, Senator Clinton is going to speak for 1 to 2 minutes on her amendment, and I understand it is going to be accepted. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KENNEDY. I withhold the request.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, we are in a position to clear amendments by consent. I ask unanimous consent to consider these amendments en bloc, the amendments be agreed to en bloc, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask consent, further, to withdraw amendment numbered 640.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask consent following final passage, until the close of business today, the two managers be permitted to add a managers' amendment to the bill, provided that the amendment is agreed to by both leaders and both managers.

Mr. KENNEDY. Thank you for bringing this important matter before us in the Senate. I agree with you that we should take a closer look at the needs of our rural schools, and I look forward to looking at how different mechanisms, including teacher loan forgiveness programs, can help meet the needs of our rural schools.

Mr. KENNEDY. I would be happy to work with Senator Bingaman on making any necessary changes related to this amendment during the conference.

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of House companion H.R. 1; that all after the enacting clause be stricken, and the text of S. 1, as amended, be substituted in lieu thereof, and the Senate proceed to vote on final passage of the bill; that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House--

Mr. KENNEDY. If I could restate it: I ask consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of the House companion, H.R. 1; that all after the enacting clause be stricken, and the Text of S. 1, as amended, be substituted in lieu thereof, the bill be read a third time, and that the Senate proceed to vote on final passage of the bill. I further ask consent S. 1 be returned to the calendar.

Mr. KENNEDY. I express my thanks now, and I will do so at the conclusion and hope they understand we appreciate this. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the Schumer-Boxer amendment as well.