Blanche Lincoln

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from West Virginia for being here today. I thank my colleague from Iowa, Senator Grassley, for being here today, and all my other colleagues who are here. When I left the seventh grade basketball game in the morning at 8 o'clock, my children wanted to know--they are used to me working on Saturdays, but usually it is in Arkansas. They said to me, ``You are going into the Capitol? What are you doing, Mom?'' I said we have something very important facing this country right now, the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in as a nation right now, looking for the solutions to the challenges we face in this great country. I told them we are so blessed to live in this country, it is worth coming in on a Saturday to talk through the issues, the challenges we face, and what the solutions are for this country moving forward. I have to say I am glad to be here, and I am glad to be joined by such compassionate and pragmatic Members who are also here to talk about how we get ourselves out of this. We can talk about history, we can talk about what got us here. The most important thing to talk about is how we put our country back on track. The most important challenge we have been faced with here is obviously our economy. There are lots of others that will feed in. As the Senator just mentioned, we have other opportunities down the road to deal with those. But I am proud of the effort in the Senate. President Obama gave us a good beginning in his recommendations of his recovery package. The House worked on theirs. We are here now, the deliberative body, to look at how it is we can improve upon this. I have to say, I think about some of the best advice I have ever gotten in life. Life is about choices, and we all are faced with choices and the many hats we wear in our lives. We have choices of how to be good parents, how to make those choices. We have choices in how to be responsive and to be a good wife and to be a good daughter to aging parents. And yes, how to be good Senators, coming together to represent the interests of our State but also the well-being of the 50 United States, this great Nation of which we are a part. That is what we are here about right now. That is why we worked late into the night last night. Everyone was tired. Now we have come back today to begin, hopefully, a bigger and better discussion of how we face these challenges and where we find these solutions. I was extremely proud of my colleagues, Senator Collins, Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska, and the others who came together. I joined that group to listen and talk about how we can bring balance to these solutions, those who have concerns about how much is spending in this bill and how much is tax cuts, and where do we go to create that balance that will help us move forward in this country to create the economy we need to create without creating outrageous debt that could be harmful to our children. It is a delicate balance, and that is why that group came together; it was to see how do we find a bipartisan way to come up with these solutions. Trimming about $100 billion is what came out of that. It was a good thing. It was a good thing to say, yes, they are all things we are passionate about. Nobody is against education. We do not want to demonize the programs that exist in what people are passionate about. But is this the place to do it? Can't we maybe reduce some of that extra spending we put in this bill to make it comparable to what it is that everybody wants to see? That was a good step. It was something we should be proud of in this body, that in a bipartisan way people did come together to say: What are our challenges, what are our options, how do we balance this? There are great ideas out there. I tend to disagree a little bit--new ideas can be good ideas. We have to look for the new ideas. We have to move from an old energy economy to a new energy economy. We have to look at the new ways of health care where we can find efficiencies and effectiveness that will bring us greater quality of care at a lower cost, accessibility to more Americans in health care needs and in health insurance. These are things we can do. But we cannot do them if we do not work together and we are not willing to take steps forward. If all we do is look back, look in the past and worry about what got us here and worry about all of those things as opposed to working together, we will never make it. One of the other critical pieces of this recipe is patience. We have to be patient. Yes, this is timely. It is much needed. We are in a grave situation in this country in terms of our economy. We have to deal with this crisis and put ourselves back on track. We can do it with timely and targeted and temporary measures. My colleague from Iowa mentions that often, and it is a wonderful thing for each of us to remember as we go through these things. We also have great passion for a lot of the different specifics that are important to our States. We have to have patience with that. There will be other trains leaving this station. We will do an omnibus bill, we will do an appropriations bill, we will do a move into that new energy economy, we will do an energy bill, we will do health care reform, and we will do tax reform. We are dedicated to doing those things. But this right now should be our focus, should be our most important focus, of moving forward. We all, when we have an important job to do, get very anxious. Now we need to have patience. We need to move in a calculating way, working hard, to come up with the solution we need to have. But we do need to do something now. We are here today because we want to get it right, we want to work hard with others in a bipartisan way, across the aisle, to make sure what we are doing is going to be important. I would say to my colleagues, look at what we have done. Look at where we have come over the course of the last week. We have already brought about a balanced package, frankly, in terms of spending and tax cuts. Those are positive things. We are going to have to spend something. We are talking about dealing with this economic crisis, spurring the economy, giving the ability to the people, the hard- working families of this country--look at what we have done on the tax side: support for small businesses, tax relief for small businesses that want to keep their payrolls going, that want to keep those jobs going, that want to make sure those working families are still going to be getting their payroll checks and putting into the GDP through the consumption their families need. We have an awful lot to do. But I hope the Members of this body will not give up, will not torture themselves about what other people have done and will remember who we are in this body and our ability to come together and work. We have done it in the past. When our country needs us the most, it is absolutely essential that we put down all of what may be behind us and make sure we are working hard to get this right. We can, we must, for the sake of this great country, the sake of the blessing each and every one of us has in living in this great country. It is our responsibility, it is our duty, and it should be our honor to come together and work these problems out.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. That is fine.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I wish to a say special thanks to Chairman Baucus as well as Chairman Inouye. Having been given the task of working hard, their staffs have been amazing in coming together and trying to produce a package that will be a job creator, a stimulus to our economy, a recovery to the economic crisis we face in this great Nation. They have done a tremendous job with the time they have been given. Of course, we are all here because we believe we have something to add to that process and to that solution. I come today to speak briefly about a couple of amendments I have. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Vitter of Louisiana be added as a cosponsor of my amendment No. 199.

Mrs. LINCOLN. The amendment I will be offering here today, along with Senators Cornyn, Murray, Pryor, and Vitter, will bring relief to the forest products industry, which has been devastated by the downturn in the housing market. My colleague from Tennessee has just spoken about the housing issue, the concerns we have there. Well, it has had a devastating effect on our timber industry as well. This industry is an integral part of the economy of many Southern and Northwestern States. In my home State of Arkansas, the forest products industry is a foundation of our economy, our culture, our way of life, and particularly those living in rural America.

Mrs. LINCOLN

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

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of legislation that is long overdue, the reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP. For those of us who have children who are young, in school, bringing home all kinds of unbelievable colds, sniffles, and all the other sickness, we realize our children today need health care. How wonderful it is, as a nation, that we have gathered to put together a comprehensive package that will help increase the number of children who can be covered. As a mother myself, as a daughter, as a wife, as the wife of a physician, better understanding the opportunity we have as a nation to do this makes me extremely proud because I see other mothers at school who cannot afford to provide health insurance for their children. A close friend of my boys was injured on the playground the other day and was taken by emergency vehicle to the hospital. He was OK. But the mother came up to me later and said: You know, I am working as hard as I can, but I can't afford health insurance. What am I going to do? I can't pay for this. We have the opportunity in this job in the Senate to make an impact on the lives of working families across this great country. This is a bipartisan program that for the last 12 years has allowed us to make health care coverage more accessible for millions of children, coverage that is critical to the lifelong health of a child and to a family's peace of mind. In conjunction with Medicaid, CHIP has been tremendously successful in reducing the number of uninsured children in my State and across this country. We have done much work on this bill over the course of the last couple of years to improve upon it, to talk about what we can do to make it a better bill. And here we now come to the floor of the Senate with an opportunity to pass something that will be monumental in the lives of working families. Since the program's inception, the number of children without health care coverage has dropped by one-third. I am proud that Arkansas has become a national leader in reducing its number of uninsured children from 21 percent in 1997 to 9 percent today. Now more than 70,000 of Arkansas's children currently receive coverage through CHIP which we know in Arkansas as Our Kids First, a great program that helps working families all across our State. Unfortunately, passage of SCHIP had been held hostage for the past 2 years due to President Bush's two vetoes which we tried to override and were unsuccessful. At this critical time in our Nation's history, when working families are struggling, they are faced with economic crisis all over this country, I believe we have a moral obligation to extend this program and provide health care coverage to millions of children who are now uninsured. Can you think of anything more important to the households of these working families than to ease their minds, to create peace of mind by saying to them: You are now eligible for a program that can help you provide health insurance for your children. It is interesting, when we talk about things that make us happy or things that make us feel fulfilled, as we grow older, we realize it is less and less about us and it is more and more about our children. It is no different from my family to any other family across this great land, to parents across this country who want desperately to be able to provide for their children. Here is our opportunity to help them. As parents, we are no different. Whether you are unemployed or whether you are a Senator, what gives you that fulfillment is to be able to see your children fulfilled, to see them healthy with access to the kind of health care that will help them reach their potential because we know that unhealthy children are less likely to learn, they are less likely to become healthy adults. They are certainly going to be more costly to the system if they depend on emergency services, not to mention the chronic diseases that can occur because they are neglected from getting the health care that they need early on. There are so many good things in this bill and so many good things this bill does. Peace of mind comes to mind, first, because I think of those parents who are unable to provide that health insurance. The bipartisan SCHIP bill provided by the Senate Finance Committee is essentially the same bill that passed overwhelmingly in the last Congress. As I mentioned before, we have discussed this bill, and we have tried to work out compromises. Is it 100 percent of what everybody in this body wants? No, it is not. But no bill ever is. Are we going to miss an opportunity to help working families across this country because it is not 100 percent of what every one of us wants? I hope as Senators, as parents, we are not so blind that we would let that happen. It builds tremendously upon the success of the program by giving States more of the tools they need while preserving their flexibility to strengthen their programs and, ultimately, cover more children. I would remind you, Mr. President, and I would remind all my colleagues, that we all have worked to keep flexibility in this bill. We also must keep in mind that many of the provisions in this bill are options to the States. Not a mandate that the State must cover but an option that gives States the flexibility to be what they are and to address the specific needs they may have in addressing both the chronic conditions of their children and, more importantly, covering the population of children who need coverage most in their States. CHIP reauthorization will allow States to preserve coverage for the children currently enrolled while reaching an additional 4.1 million low-income children. I don't know of a greater way, quite frankly, that we could show other countries who we are and what our value system is than to reach out and cover 4.1 million more low-income children; to express to the world where we put our values, where we want to make an investment--an investment in future leaders, a future workforce, the future leaders not just of our country but in the global community as well. This proposal would also provide much-needed funding to States for outreach and enrollment efforts to enroll many of those who are currently uninsured. This is critically important to me in my State of Arkansas, where two out of three uninsured children are eligible for ARKids First or Medicaid but are not enrolled. We need the resources to reach out and ensure that these children and their families understand what these great programs are and what they would mean to their children. It also takes additional steps to ensure infants and toddlers get a healthy start by providing care for expectant mothers. At the age I was when I delivered my twins, people thought I was Methuselah, but nobody ever missed the opportunity to tell me how very important it was to care for myself if I loved my children, and I did. I did everything I possibly could to ensure that I could bring those children into this world as healthy and happy as possible. It was a blessing to me. There are other mothers out there--expectant mothers--who want desperately to ensure that they can do everything possible to bring their children into this world healthy and happy, and the key is prenatal care. I have long been a supporter of improving access to health care coverage for expectant mothers. I understand how important it is, both as a mother myself but, more importantly, looking at what it means to us as a country to ensure that we bring as many children into this world as healthy and happy as we possibly can--not only because it is vital to the health of both the mother and the infant but also because it often reduces future health care costs, which we know can be high in premature births. In fact, it was reported in 2005 that the socioeconomic costs associated with preterm birth in the United States were at least $26.2 billion. Every year, more than 500,000 infants are born prematurely, and that is nearly one out of every eight babies. I can remember delivering my children in the Medicaid section of the University Hospital where my husband worked, and I remember going upstairs to the NIC unit, and I took my dad with me. My dad was a dirt farmer. He is no longer with us, but he is here in spirit with me today, as he always is. But he was a dirt farmer in east Arkansas, and I took him with me to the NIC unit. I had never seen my daddy cry before then. But he looked at those premature babies, and he said: What is their life going to be like? The more we can provide the kind of health care that expectant mothers need, we will not have to ask that question. We can ensure that babies will be born healthy and happy. As I mentioned before, it is of particular concern for me because also, in recent reports, more than 14 percent of our births in Arkansas are premature, ranking it among the States with the highest incidence of preterm births. By taking these needed steps to improve access to care for expectant mothers, I am confident we can make strides to improve health outcomes for them and for their children. The Finance Committee proposal also includes incentives to ensure that States reach out to the lowest income kids first and phase out the adult waivers that have been existent under the previous administration. In addition, the bill provides the Federal authority and resources to invest in the development and testing of quality measures for children's health care. This provision will help ensure that States and other payers, providers, and consumers have the clinical quality measures they need to assess and improve the quality and performance of children's health care services. Making determinations on children's health care based on studies that have been done on adults doesn't make sense. It is critical that we focus on those quality measures based on our research and study of children and applying it in the appropriate way. Additionally, it allows some States to use income eligibility information from other Federal programs, such as school lunch programs, to speed the enrollment of eligible children into the CHIP program or into Medicaid. We have the income information about these families for the school lunch program, which is critically important to the well- being of our children, so why wouldn't we want to ensure that those same families, meeting those same eligibility requirements, could move quickly into the CHIP program to get the other health care needs of their children met? This would certainly simplify the administrative process for States, and it would reduce paperwork burdens that are put upon hard-working, low-income families. This bill would also provide greater access to much-needed dental care for lower income children and would ensure that children enrolled in CHIP would have access to mental health care that is on par with the level of medical and surgical care that they are currently provided. The dental portion, the wraparound, is twofold. I can remember when I first visited one of the very first Head Start Programs in my community, and I saw these children lined up with little Styrofoam cups they had decorated. They had a donated toothbrush and a free sample of toothpaste. They were so proud each day to be able to walk to the community sink there in the Head Start facility and brush their teeth. Dental care is essential. It is absolutely essential. All you have to do is look at children of low-income families whose teeth are rotten, who aren't getting dental care, who aren't getting supervision or not being taught the life skills they need. When those teeth are rotten, they hurt, they make those children sick, they are unable to eat, they get no nutrition, and then we wonder why they cannot focus in the classroom or why they cannot learn. This dental wraparound program is excellent for ensuring not only that children will get the dental care they need, but the wraparound portion of it ensures that we will not see crowding out; that families who have private insurance which doesn't cover dental can then get their dental coverage in a wraparound package and maintain the other private insurance they have. Those are critical needs and critical sensitivities we have looked at in this bill to ensure that we are doing the most we possibly can for the children of our country. As you can see, this bipartisan bill is a step in the right direction to provide care and coverage for our most precious resource--our most precious asset in this great country--and that is our Nation's children. We have to look no further than the children of this country to understand that all of what we do today means nothing if we have not given them the ability to carry on the great lessons of this great country we are blessed to be a part of. And if they do not reach their potential, whether it is because they haven't gotten dental care, they haven't gotten immunizations, they haven't gotten the proper kind of health care they need to be able to learn and flourish and reach their potential, we will have done an injustice to our country. As we move forward, I wish to encourage my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation in the same bipartisan spirit that was demonstrated when it was created 12 years ago. We are not here to create a work of art. We are here to create a work in progress. After 12 years, we have come to understand the importance of what has changed in our communities, what has changed in our economy, what has changed among our working families, and to meet the needs that exist in today's world. After 2 years of waiting, we cannot fail our Nation's children yet again. I hope every one of us in this body will think of a child who was born 2 years ago, unable to access CHIP coverage--a family with a child born 2 years ago. If we fail to do it now, and they have to wait 2 more years, they have missed 4 years of critical development in their life without health care. We will never, ever be able to reverse that. This is the time. Now is the time. We have talked and talked, we have reached out to one another to come up with the best possible solutions we could, but now is the time to pass this bill. In a time when more and more Americans are struggling to find affordable health care, it is up to us to put politics aside, not only for the future of our Nation but for the well-being of millions of our children across this great Nation. It is not just our future. Most importantly, it is their future. They are depending on us, and it is time we fulfill our commitment to them. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I am very pleased to rise today to introduce the Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement Act II of 2009 with my good friend, Senator Crapo of Idaho. I also want to say a special thanks to our cosponsors, Senators Alexander, Pryor, Cornyn, Cantwell, Landrieu, Murray, and Vitter. This legislation has commonly been referred to as the TREE Act. I appreciate that Congress understood the importance of the TREE Act with its inclusion and enactment in the Farm Bill last year. But, unfortunately, this tax policy is already set to expire in May. So today, my colleagues and I introduce the TREE Act II to make this important forest policy permanent. In my home State of Arkansas, the forest products industry is a foundation of our economy and culture. More than 50 percent of Arkansas land is forested. Much of this is sustainably managed to create products we use every day. In addition, there are jobs associated with the growing of these forests and manufacture of these great products. More than 32,000 Arkansas men and women work in our woods, at our sawmills and in our paper mills. These are good jobs located in our small rural towns. However, these jobs and this industry continue to face many challenges. During this economic crisis, the forest products industry has suffered greater dislocation than many others, and since 2006 has lost more than 181,000 jobs or roughly 14 percent of our workforce. The wood products industry has been particularly hard hit with 20 percent drops in employment. In Arkansas the impact is even greater, with a predicted 24 percent job loss in the wood products industry. The TREE Act II helps address these challenges. Just as it is important to have diversity in our forests, it is also important to maintain diversity in our forestry industry, and we must ensure that all business forms have the necessary tools so they can be successful in the global marketplace. Timber companies that are organized as corporations continue to be under intensifying pressure to reorganize. In that case, a corporation that owns substantial manufacturing facilities would be forced to sell some of those facilities and to make other structural changes in order to comply with the relevant tax rules that it would newly become subject to. This would likely cause disruptions in many of these communities and would also make it harder for U.S. companies to compete internationally. In Arkansas, like so many other States across our Nation, a strong forest product industry is essential to having a strong economy. A permanent solution to the TREE Act II is imperative for this industry and supporting the jobs it provides. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to ensure this important tax policy is made permanent.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I am very pleased to rise today to introduce the Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement Act II of 2009 with my good friend, Senator Crapo of Idaho. I also want to say a special thanks to our cosponsors, Senators Alexander, Pryor, Cornyn, Cantwell, Landrieu, Murray, and Vitter. This legislation has commonly been referred to as the TREE Act. I appreciate that Congress understood the importance of the TREE Act with its inclusion and enactment in the Farm Bill last year. But, unfortunately, this tax policy is already set to expire in May. So today, my colleagues and I introduce the TREE Act II to make this important forest policy permanent. In my home State of Arkansas, the forest products industry is a foundation of our economy and culture. More than 50 percent of Arkansas land is forested. Much of this is sustainably managed to create products we use every day. In addition, there are jobs associated with the growing of these forests and manufacture of these great products. More than 32,000 Arkansas men and women work in our woods, at our sawmills and in our paper mills. These are good jobs located in our small rural towns. However, these jobs and this industry continue to face many challenges. During this economic crisis, the forest products industry has suffered greater dislocation than many others, and since 2006 has lost more than 181,000 jobs or roughly 14 percent of our workforce. The wood products industry has been particularly hard hit with 20 percent drops in employment. In Arkansas the impact is even greater, with a predicted 24 percent job loss in the wood products industry. The TREE Act II helps address these challenges. Just as it is important to have diversity in our forests, it is also important to maintain diversity in our forestry industry, and we must ensure that all business forms have the necessary tools so they can be successful in the global marketplace. Timber companies that are organized as corporations continue to be under intensifying pressure to reorganize. In that case, a corporation that owns substantial manufacturing facilities would be forced to sell some of those facilities and to make other structural changes in order to comply with the relevant tax rules that it would newly become subject to. This would likely cause disruptions in many of these communities and would also make it harder for U.S. companies to compete internationally. In Arkansas, like so many other States across our Nation, a strong forest product industry is essential to having a strong economy. A permanent solution to the TREE Act II is imperative for this industry and supporting the jobs it provides. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to ensure this important tax policy is made permanent.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 10 minutes.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to speak about the bill that is before us, which is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It doesn't take a legal scholar to understand that the U.S. Supreme Court did get it wrong when they ruled against Lilly Ledbetter in 2007. In fact, I think the issue is rather simple. All I have to do is look out across my great State of Arkansas at the number of single mothers who are working hard to care for their families and who need equal pay and deserve equal pay. In today's business environment, where women make on average 78 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make for the same work, it can be impossible for someone to know that they have been discriminated against until long after the fact. Employees are not privy to pay data in the workplace, as we are. Our pay is published, as well as for our staff, but in the regular workforce it is not published. In many instances, they can actually be disciplined or fired if they share pay information with one another. In the case of Lilly Ledbetter, she was hired as a supervisor at a tire plant in Alabama nearly 30 years ago. For years, day upon day, she went to work next to her male counterparts working hard to do her job the best she could, doing the same job or an extremely similar job to what these gentlemen were doing. She received unequal pay for equal work to her male colleagues. She only discovered she was a subject of discrimination after she received an anonymous tip shortly before her retirement. Although an Alabama jury found in her favor, her employer appealed the decision and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against her. In a 5-to-4 decision, they overturned years of precedent and said that she should have filed a complaint every time she received a smaller raise than the men she served alongside, even though she didn't know what they were making or if the pay was discriminatory. How could she know? She was not privy to that information, and she was prohibited from asking. In her very spirited dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said that the majority clearly misinterpreted the law and that ``the ball is now in Congress's court'' to correct this inequity. It is in our court. It is in our court to ensure that the women of this country are going to receive the equal pay that is due to them for the job they do working alongside their male counterparts. So that is why we are here today, to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It is a responsible and fair piece of legislation which ensures that all employees, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, are treated the same. That is what we have just celebrated in the inauguration of a new President: the values we hold dear as a part of this great country, the blessing of being American, and that we would have the same opportunity to reach our potential--each of us as individuals--whether we are men or whether we are women. I know in some of the business communities they are concerned that this bill will extend the statute of limitations and expose employers to numerous lawsuits. However, I reject those arguments, because this bill provides little incentive for employees to sit on claims with only a 2-year limit on back pay. In addition, it does not create new grounds for filing lawsuits. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office expects that it would not significantly affect the number of filings within the EEOC. So I encourage my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation. When I first came to the Congress in 1992, I came to the House representing the eastern district of Arkansas, and I remember my campaign vividly. I was a young single woman at the time. People thought I was crazy, not only because of my age and my gender, but because of the fact that I was unmarried, and it was unheard of for a young single woman to be out there running for the Congress. I remember sitting next to a distinguished banker in one of my hometown communities. He looked quite conservative, and sitting next to him I got a little nervous. He started asking me about some women's issues that would probably be before me at one time or another if I were elected to the Congress. He started to quiz me pretty heavily. I got nervous, but I came back with what I felt were strong and concise and well thought out answers. At the end of our conversation, he looked at me and he said: I have kind of been a little hard on you, but I wanted to know how you felt about these issues. I wanted to know how you truly, deep down felt about these issues, because I have three daughters who are in the workforce and one of them is a single mom. I want to know that you are going to be fighting for them and for their children. So it is not just the women who are interested in what happens here; it is the fathers and grandfathers, it is the brothers of women who are out in the workforce doing their best, working hard to make a living for their families, to care for their children, or to help their aging parent. I found, when I came to the House and then to the Senate, my colleagues were always ready to work with me regardless of my gender or my age, if I came to the table prepared and ready to work hard, and if I was honest in where I was coming from on those issues and wanted to work hard to bring about results for the betterment of my constituencies in Arkansas. So I hope as we look at this, we will realize that is what we are talking about here: for American women across this great land who are working hard--many of them in the same job as a man; maybe supporting a family by themselves or taking care of an aging parent, financially and otherwise--that we would do the right thing, the thing this country is based on, which is equity and fairness and justice, and that we would provide for those women the reassurance that the principles we stand for are not lost in them or in their paycheck, but that we do see the importance of standing up and saying how important it is to who we are and what we stand for that they deserve to have that equal pay. It is a fair and responsible bill that restores the congressional intent and ensures that those responsible for discrimination are held accountable. I yield the floor.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I come before the Senate to once again raise an issue that is near and dear to my heart--an issue that is of great importance to working families across this country. In 2001 and again in 2003, Senator Snowe and I worked together to ensure that low- income working families with children receive the benefit of the Child Tax Credit. Last year, we were successful in improving the credit to ensure that more working families are able to receive its benefit for the tax year 2008, and I come here today to introduce legislation that will ensure this important provision continues to provide tax relief for our working families in the future. The change we made to the credit last year will ensure the Child Tax Credit is available for all working families. As some of my colleagues may be aware, to be eligible for the refundable child tax credit, working families must meet an income threshold. If they don't earn enough, then they don't qualify for the credit. The problem is that some of our working parents are working full-time and yet they still don't earn enough to receive a meaningful benefit from this provision because they just don't have a high enough income. It is wrong to provide the credit to some hardworking Americans, while leaving others behind. That is why we temporarily lowered the income threshold to $8,500 in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act last Fall. As a result, the single, working parent that is stocking shelves at your local grocery store for minimum wage will receive a meaningful credit this year. This improvement to the credit must be made permanent to ensure that our tax code works for all Americans, especially those working parents forced to get by on the minimum wage. Today, we are introducing the Working Family Child Assistance Act, legislation which makes the refundable Child Tax Credit permanent and sets the income threshold at a reasonable level so that all working parents, including those making the minimum wage, receive the benefit of the credit. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Administration to ensure that those low-income, hard-working families that need this credit the most do receive its benefits.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I come before the Senate to once again raise an issue that is near and dear to my heart--an issue that is of great importance to working families across this country. In 2001 and again in 2003, Senator Snowe and I worked together to ensure that low- income working families with children receive the benefit of the Child Tax Credit. Last year, we were successful in improving the credit to ensure that more working families are able to receive its benefit for the tax year 2008, and I come here today to introduce legislation that will ensure this important provision continues to provide tax relief for our working families in the future. The change we made to the credit last year will ensure the Child Tax Credit is available for all working families. As some of my colleagues may be aware, to be eligible for the refundable child tax credit, working families must meet an income threshold. If they don't earn enough, then they don't qualify for the credit. The problem is that some of our working parents are working full-time and yet they still don't earn enough to receive a meaningful benefit from this provision because they just don't have a high enough income. It is wrong to provide the credit to some hardworking Americans, while leaving others behind. That is why we temporarily lowered the income threshold to $8,500 in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act last Fall. As a result, the single, working parent that is stocking shelves at your local grocery store for minimum wage will receive a meaningful credit this year. This improvement to the credit must be made permanent to ensure that our tax code works for all Americans, especially those working parents forced to get by on the minimum wage. Today, we are introducing the Working Family Child Assistance Act, legislation which makes the refundable Child Tax Credit permanent and sets the income threshold at a reasonable level so that all working parents, including those making the minimum wage, receive the benefit of the credit. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Administration to ensure that those low-income, hard-working families that need this credit the most do receive its benefits.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, I regret that I will be unable to be present for today's vote on the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, H.R. 6867, due to a hunger awareness event previously scheduled in Arkansas. If I were present for the vote, I would vote to support this important piece of legislation as I did in June when the Senate passed a 13-week unemployment insurance extension as part of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, Public Law 110-252.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to honor and recognize over 25 years of service by Stanley E. Reed to our great State of Arkansas. A third-generation cotton farmer from Marianna, AR, Stanley has served the Arkansas agriculture community with steady leadership for over 20 years as a member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation board, including the last five as president. At the upcoming Farm Bureau State Convention on December 4, Stanley will hand over the gavel as president, and I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize his many contributions to our State. Born in Marianna in 1951, Stanley attended the University of Arkansas where he graduated in 1973 with a degree in Agricultural Engineering and was awarded Highest Honors. Although Stanley was a tremendous student, he also displayed his leadership skills early on, serving as President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, President of the Inter Fraternity Council, and President of the Cardinal XX Honorary Society. Upon graduation, Stanley attended the University of Arkansas School of Law were he received his Juris Doctorate in 1976 and was also awarded Highest Honors. Upon taking the Arkansas Bar Exam that year, Stanley scored the highest grade in the State. Although licensed as an attorney, Stanley returned to the family farm, producing cotton in Lee and St. Francis Counties. He soon became active within the agricultural community and served as president of the Lee County Farm Bureau from 1982-1984. Soon after, he joined the board of directors of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation in 1988, later serving as secretary-treasurer for 6 years, vice president for 4 years, and, as I mentioned before, president for the past 6 years. He has also served on the American Farm Bureau Board of Directors since 2004. His involvement in the Arkansas agriculture community has led him on trade missions to Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, and Peru. In addition, I had the good fortune to be joined by Stanley and other Arkansas farmers on a trade mission to Cuba in 2000 to discuss the opening of the Cuban market to Arkansas goods. What makes Stanley so unique, though, is that his service to Arkansas extends beyond the agriculture world. Education has always been a priority for him. He served for 4 years on the Lee Academy School Board, where his children attended, and he just recently completed a 10-year term on the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, where he served as chairman for 2 years. He is a member of the Arkansas Academy for Agriculture Engineers and has been honored as Distinguished Alumni of the College of Engineering. Additionally, he has served on the board of directors for Baptist Health and as a board member of Simmons First National Bank. Faith is an important part of Stanley's life. A member of the First Baptist Church in Marianna, Stanley has served as a Deacon in the church and taught youth and adult Sunday School classes for over 20 years. More importantly, he has been involved in prison ministries locally and oversaw the fundraising and construction of the prison chapel at an Arkansas Department of Corrections facility. And last but certainly not least, Stanley's family--his wife Charlene and three children, Haley Davis, Nathan, and Anna--has been a tremendous source of pride and inspiration for him. In fact, Nathan is carrying on the family farming tradition and works with Stanley on the farm. Stanley is also the proud grandfather to Anna Kate, Jack, and Haven Davis. As you can see, Stanley Reed is Arkansas through and through. So as he steps down as president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, I want to thank him for all that he has done for Arkansas and in particularly, the Arkansas agriculture community. Stanley, although you are ending your tenure, I know you will not be far away. I look forward to working with you and know you will continue to make your impact felt in your community and in the State you love so much.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I am concerned that this stabilization package, which includes0package of business tax incentives, does not extend the timber tax provisions that were enacted in sections 15311 and 15312 of the farm bill and which are scheduled to expire in May 2009. I and others have long advocated the enactment of provisions that would permanently reform the tax rules for timber income. Given budget constraints, as part of the farm bill, we established the new rules for 1 year as a first step. It is important that the provisions not be allowed to lapse. Otherwise, our good work could be undone because we will revert to the same situation as before in which companies that harvest timber are subject to higher tax rates simply because of their form of business organization. As we consider tax extenders legislation, my specific concern is that, by extending a variety of expiring tax provisions until the end of 2009 but not extending the timber tax provisions, we may create the impression that the timber tax provisions are not likely to be extended. Because of this concern, I am interested in learning, from the chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee, about their plans for considering an extension of the timber tax provisions.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to say an enormous thanks to my good friend and neighbor, Senator Landrieu. When you grow up in small communities in middle America, one of the things you understand the most is that it is important to be a good neighbor and it is very important to have good neighbors. Through the last several years, we in Arkansas and the folks in Louisiana have come to understand that. We have housed most or a tremendous number of the evacuees from both Katrina and Rita, and then Gustav sent us more evacuees. We have worked in tandem with our neighbors to try to figure out how we can be there for one another. With our proximity to Louisiana and Texas, sitting right above those two States, we say thanks to our colleagues who are allowing us to join them in speaking out on behalf of a tremendously important constituency that we represent, and that is production agriculture. Senator Landrieu has brought up so many good points. Again, I wish to reiterate that our growers across this country, these hard-working farm families, get up early every morning. They go into the fields, into their livestock arenas, and work hard to ensure that we can have the safest, most abundant, and affordable food supply in the world. They provide us a food supply, food and fiber per capita that is less than any other developed nation in the world. Yet in this body and throughout the Congress, it is hard to get attention if your issue is not glamorous. If it is not glamourous and it is not on the front page of People magazine or on the front page of these papers, people don't want to talk about it and they don't want to put the work into it that is required to get the results that are needed. These hard-working farm families are doing a tremendous job. As Senator Landrieu has mentioned, so often we forget these are folks who are absorbing tremendous costs--the increased cost of fuel and utilities, the needs they have in terms of chemical application, fertilizers, and other products, and the fluctuation of the price and value of commodities that are going crazy as well in many of those markets. So it is so important that we as a government create an environment where they can continue to do the fine job they do in ensuring that all of us--not just in this country but globally--can enjoy that safe and abundant supply of food. Senator Landrieu is exactly correct. Every year they go through this unbelievable anguish of figuring out how they are going to pay to keep their jobs. They go to their lenders in December and January to start a new crop year. This year they are going to go to that lender and they are going to say: We have had unbelievable disaster, whether it has been a hurricane, floods, tornadoes, which we suffered drastically this spring. We had one tornado that hit the ground and stayed on the ground for 120 miles. We have seen floods that are 50-, 90-year floods. We had those in the spring, to be followed by a tremendous amount of water that was sent up from Louisiana or Texas after Gustav and Ike which put all of our crops that had been planted late because of spring floods under water, as Senator Landrieu has mentioned. They go in to their lenders, having suffered these unbelievable disasters, they are faced with unbelievable increases in their input costs, and the lender says: Your house is probably worth less because of the mortgage crisis and your 401(k) might not be so solid because of whatever else is going on. They get hit from absolutely every direction. Yet to be able to get back into the field, they have to have the support of those lenders. Without having the Government behind them, the Government to say, We are going to stand with you in whatever it is that you meet up against, they are not going to be able to continue to do that tremendous job. As Senator Landrieu mentioned--and I know Senator Conrad has worked tirelessly in terms of crop insurance--she is exactly right. Crop insurance doesn't fit us like it does the rest of the country. We grow capital-intensive crops and to insure ourselves against that kind of liability and that kind of risk, it is not cost effective, nor is the payout what it needs to be when we hit those disasters. So it is critically important that we recognize the disaster program that is intended to be there for those farmers crop insurance cannot fully protect. We worked in this farm bill to come up with that program. Again, as Senator Landrieu has mentioned, USDA has failed to give us the rules. So these growers, who are caught between a rock and a hard spot, know they have a 2008 farm bill, there are no rules that apply, and they are not going to understand or even know what they can count on in terms of disaster payments until the spring. It is too late by April or May to have gotten their assistance, their financing, their ability to know what they are going to be able to plant and start for a 2009 crop year. I thank my good friend and my good neighbor because we understand how important it is to be and to have good neighbors. I am very grateful she is standing up for our farm families and allowing those of us who want to stand with her to say: It may not be a glamorous issue, it may not be one that people are going to jump up and rise to the occasion to try to solve. But I tell you one thing, when people look around and realize that it is not just stock markets, it is not just home mortgages, but it is actually the ability to feed your family, then they will figure out that it is absolutely appropriate that we stand here today and ask our Government to help us move forward with the kind of environment that our growers need to put seed in the ground, to produce, as well as to be competitive in a global marketplace so we can continue to allow them to produce unbelievably safe and abundant food and fiber for this Nation and for the entire world. Thanks to my good friend and neighbor, Senator Landrieu. I am proud to be here with her to fight on behalf of America's growers. I thank the Senator for yielding.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, it is with great joy that today I recognize the 125th anniversary of Liberty Baptist Church located in the northwest Arkansas town of Dutch Mills in Washington County along the historic Butterfield Stagecoach Route. According to its members, Liberty Baptist was built in 1883 by the founding families--Kimbrough, Bryant, Douthit, Fields, Greer, Grisham, Holman, Hodges, McCarty, and Seay--of what was then known as Hermansburg, AR. In fact, Rufus Seay, the husband of Jennie Kimbrough and son-in-law to Thomas Kimbrough, donated the land for the church, and the Kimbrough, McCarty, English, Seay, Holland, Patterson, and Hodges families funded the construction. It was a community effort as the men built the church and the women provided food and encouragement. While much has changed since Liberty Baptist's doors opened in 1883, the community spirit and spiritual nourishment provided by Liberty Baptist Church remain a foundation for the citizens of Dutch Mills. Liberty Baptist will commemorate its anniversary the week of November 2 through 9 with community events and activities. Although I will be unable to attend the festivities, I want to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations and recognize them on this glorious occasion.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, tomorrow evening, Arkansas 4-H will cap a year long celebration, ``Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Future,'' at the 4-H Centennial gala in Little Rock, AR. Nearly 1 year ago, on October 1, 2007, the 4-H Centennial Celebration kicked off in Searcy, AR, located in White County, where Arkansas 4-H began. Founded as a boys' corn and cotton club in 1908, Arkansas 4-H soon expanded to include girls' canning clubs and is now one of the largest youth development programs in Arkansas. The mission of 4-H is to provide opportunities for youth to acquire knowledge, develop life skills, form attitudes, and practice behavior that will enable them to become self-directing, productive, and contributing members of society. It is exemplified in the pledge every Arkansas 4-Her recites: I pledge my Head to clearer thinking; my Heart to greater loyalty; my Hands to larger service; my Health to better living for my club, my community, my country, and my world. Mr. President, what great words to live by. Approximately 133,000 young people, in all 75 Arkansas counties, participate in Arkansas 4-H clubs. Arkansas 4-H carries out its mission across our diverse State in inner cities, suburbs, and rural communities. It seeks to break barriers among our youth by focusing on a philosophy of learning by doing. Associated with the University of Arkansas's Division of Agriculture, through the Cooperative Extension Service, 4-H members can select activities in 82 project areas from automotive and clothing to space camp and show horse competitions. In addition, Arkansas 4-H youth receive more than $80,000 in college scholarships each year at the State level for their 4-H work. So as Arkansas 4-H culminates its year long celebration, I want to extend my congratulations on a tremendous 100 years and wish 4-H the best for another 100 years. I would also like to take this time to recognize the over 40 clubs statewide that joined the Centennial Club Circle to help fund centennial activities this year. They include the following: Garland County Teen Leader Club, Garland County; Busy Beavers 4-H Club, Pope County; Elkins 4-H Club, Washington County; Galloping Clovers, Yell County; Fusion 4-H Club, Columbia County; Town & Country 4-H Club, Benton County; Bear Pride 4-H Club, White County; Yellowjackets 4-H Club; Grant County; Rocky Top 4-H Club, Crawford County; 4-H Soaring Eagles Group, Cross County; Perry County Teen Leaders, Perry County; Vilonia 4-H Club, Faulkner County; Centerton 4-H Club, Benton County; Pastoria 4-H Club, Jefferson County; Western Wranglers 4-H Horse & Pony Club, Lawrence County; Alpena 4-H Club, Boone County; Monette Buffalo Island 4-H Club, Craighead County; Lakeside 4-H Club, Sevier County; Gaither-Valley 4-H Club, Boone County; Olvey 4-H Club, Boone County; Decatur 4-H Club, Benton County; Gravette Gleamers-4-H, Benton County; Chambers 4-H Club, Crawford County; Hilltop Kids 4-H Club, Pope County; Carnall 4-H Club, Sebastian County; Franklin County 4-H Shooting Sports Club, Franklin County; Hurricane Creek 4-H Club, Franklin County; Franklin County Teen Leaders Club, Franklin County; Pulaski County Teen Leaders Club, Pulaski County; Berryville 4-H Club, Carroll County; Atkins 4-H Club, Pope County; Shining Stars 4-H Club, Clark County; Salem Superstars 4-H Club, Saline County; Chapel Hill 4-H Club, Sevier County; Spirit of 76 4-H Club, Arkansas County; Batesville Pioneer 4-H Club, Independence County; Hector 4-H Club, Pope County; El Paso 4-H Club, White County; Towers 4-H Club, Union County; Magic Clovers 4-H Club, Saline County; Lion's Pride 4-H Club, White County; Johnson County 4-H Teen Leaders Club, Johnson County; Hasbrook Road 4-H Club, Craighead County; Bethlehem 4-H Club, Columbia County; H&S Dream Makers, Dallas County; Small Stockers & More 4-H Club, Marion County; Columbia County Livestock 4-H Club, Columbia County; Haskell 4-H Club, Saline County; Prairie Grove 4-H Club, Washington County; Greene County 4-H Livestock Club, Greene County; Greene County 4-H Club, Greene County; Hickory 4-H Club, Cross County; Boone County 4-H Sharpshooters, Boone County; Phillips County 4-H Club, Phillips County; L'eau Frais 4-H Club, Clark County; Dayton 4-H Club, Sebastian County; White County 4-H Leaders Association, White County; Mountaineers 4-H Club, Franklin County; 4-H Busy Beavers, Yell County; Lee County 4-H Club, Lee County; Conway County 4-H Foundation, Conway County; Caney Creek 4-H Club, Conway County; Conway County Livestock Club, Conway County; Hattieville Community 4-H Club, Conway County; Heritage Run Homeschool 4-H Club, Conway County; Latino 4-H Club, Conway County; Lucky Clovers 4-H Club, Conway County; Morrilton High School HOFNOD 4-H Club, Conway County; Nemo Vista Pioneers 4-H Club, Conway County; South of the River 4-H Club, Conway County; Trailblazers 4-H Club, Conway County; Union Chapel 4-H Club, Conway County; Wonderview High School 4-H Club, Conway County; and Viola Loyal Longhorn 4-H Club, Fulton County.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, yesterday morning I met Edward Johnson of Springdale, AR, who was selected by Experience Works, the Nation's oldest and largest provider of job training and employment opportunities for older Americans, as the 2008 Outstanding Older Worker from the State of Arkansas. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Johnson on receiving this award and thank him for his steadfast service to our country and my home State of Arkansas. More than 60 years ago, as an 18-year-old young man, Mr. Johnson enlisted in the U.S. Army. Over the next 30 years, he served our country in outposts from Japan and Korea to the Panama Canal and Vietnam. Upon his honorable discharge in 1978, he had earned the rank of sergeant major. Without knowing what his next step in life would be, Mr. Johnson went to his local employment office to apply for unemployment benefits. Upon arriving, he found his second calling and began a second 30-year career as the local veterans representative in the Fayetteville office for the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, DWS. In this capacity, Mr. Johnson has assisted countless veterans find employment and helped disabled veterans find uses for their unique talents. He has said that the pleasure of putting veterans to work and their excitement when hired is what motivates him. Throughout his service, he has become like a father figure and invaluable member of the DWS staff. It is not uncommon for him to go above and beyond to assist in a variety of capacities around the office. He is known to mentor new employees, especially veterans in the work/study program, and takes it upon himself to recognize colleagues with awards when they provide an outstanding level of service. At the age of 78, Mr. Johnson is showing no signs of slowing down, either. He continues to learn how to use the newest technology needed to perform his job. He also likes to treat the staff by grilling hamburgers and hotdogs in the parking lot or bringing in his wife's homemade soup. Beyond his work, Mr. Johnson is a valuable member of his community. He is a 23-year member of the Noon Lions Club, where he served as president from 1988 to 1989, and in 1999, he served as the Rogers- Lowell Chamber of Commerce Ambassador of the Year. In closing, I want Mr. Johnson to know that he is an inspiration, not only to me and my colleagues but to the millions of seniors around our great State and across this country. We are thankful for his many contributions.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, yesterday morning I met Doris Johnson of West Memphis, AR, who was selected by Experience Works as the recipient of the 2008 Changing Lives Award for Outstanding Senior Community Service Employment Program, SCSEP, Participant. I want to congratulate Mrs. Johnson on receiving this award and changing her life through participation in the SCSEP. Prior to her participation in the program, Mrs. Johnson's sole work experience was helping to run her family's sheet metal shop business for nearly 45 years. She managed many of the day-to-day office tasks which included sending and receiving invoices on behalf of the business. Unfortunately, in 1986, her husband's health began to deteriorate, and she suffered a heart attack herself. It was at this time that their son began running the company until it was eventually sold, when her husband passed away in 1996. After her heart attack, Mrs. Johnson was not employed for nearly 20 years. In fact, her husband's death was very painful, and she rarely visited friends or ventured out of the house. But at the age of 77, realizing she needed additional income just to make ends meet, she contacted Experience Works. For those who are not aware, Experience Works is the Nation's oldest and largest provider of job training and employment opportunities for older Americans. Each year, Experience Works serves over 20,000 older workers and local communities through the SCSEP. Shortly before her 78th birthday, Mrs. Johnson was placed with the Amazing Grace Thrift Shop on a training assignment. She quickly learned to sort and fold clothes, as well as price and sell items. In a short time, she and another SCSEP participant tripled the sales at the store. She soon was encouraged to take a new job as a receptionist with the Arkansas Rehabilitation Service, ARS. It was not an easy transition, though. Mrs. Johnson suffered from hearing loss and was concerned about her ability to answer the phone. In addition, the phone system was rather intimidating, and she was unsure if she could adapt. The staff at ARS was impressed with her, though, and they worked to help her obtain new hearing aids. She was also a quick study during phone training. She not only developed the skills to become a good receptionist but also took the initiative to take a phone list home so that she could learn employee names and extensions. Her work ethic, people skills, and ability to learn new task set her apart. In fact, her training supervisor has requested that she become the office assistant. It has certainly made a difference in Mrs. Johnson's life. She says, ``Being in the program has made a complete turnaround in my life.'' She displays a newfound confidence, and with some extra income, has returned to becoming an active senior. Mrs. Johnson, I want you to know that you are an inspiration, not only to me and my colleagues but to the millions of seniors around our great State and across this country. Thank you for all you do, and good luck in your future endeavors.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I am very pleased to rise today to introduce the Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement Act II of 2008 with my good friend, Senator Smith of Oregon. I also want to say a special thanks to our cosponsors, Senators Cantwell, Murray, Dole, Chambliss, Cornyn, Landrieu, Wicker and Vitter. This legislation has commonly been referred to as the TREE Act. I appreciate that Congress understood the importance of the TREE Act with its inclusion and enactment in the Farm Bill earlier this year. But, unfortunately, this tax policy is already set to expire in less than one year. So today, my colleagues and I introduce the TREE Act II to make this important forest policy permanent. In my home State of Arkansas, the est products industry is a foundation of our economy and culture. More than 50 percent of Arkansas land is forested. Much of this is sustainably managed to create products we use every day. In addition, there are jobs associated with the growing of these forests and manufacture of these great products. More than 32,000 Arkansas men and women work in our woods, at our sawmills and in our paper mills. These are good jobs located in our small rural towns. However, these jobs and this industry continue to face many challenges. The TREE Act II addresses one of these challenges. Just as it is important to have diversity in our forests, it is also important to maintain diversity in our forestry industry, and we must ensure that all business forms have the necessary tools so they can be successful in the global marketplace. Timber companies that are organized as corporations continue to be under intensifying pressure to reorganize. In that case, a corporation that owns substantial manufacturing facilities would be forced to sell some of those facilities and to make other structural changes in order to comply with the relevant tax rules that it would newly become subject to. This would be likely to cause disruptions in some of these communities and also would make it harder for U.S. companies to compete internationally. In Arkansas, like so many other States across our Nation, a strong forest product industry is essential to having a strong economy. A permanent solution to the TREE Act II is imperative for this industry and supporting the jobs it provides. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to ensure this important tax policy is made permanent.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I am very pleased to rise today to introduce the Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement Act II of 2008 with my good friend, Senator Smith of Oregon. I also want to say a special thanks to our cosponsors, Senators Cantwell, Murray, Dole, Chambliss, Cornyn, Landrieu, Wicker and Vitter. This legislation has commonly been referred to as the TREE Act. I appreciate that Congress understood the importance of the TREE Act with its inclusion and enactment in the Farm Bill earlier this year. But, unfortunately, this tax policy is already set to expire in less than one year. So today, my colleagues and I introduce the TREE Act II to make this important forest policy permanent. In my home State of Arkansas, the est products industry is a foundation of our economy and culture. More than 50 percent of Arkansas land is forested. Much of this is sustainably managed to create products we use every day. In addition, there are jobs associated with the growing of these forests and manufacture of these great products. More than 32,000 Arkansas men and women work in our woods, at our sawmills and in our paper mills. These are good jobs located in our small rural towns. However, these jobs and this industry continue to face many challenges. The TREE Act II addresses one of these challenges. Just as it is important to have diversity in our forests, it is also important to maintain diversity in our forestry industry, and we must ensure that all business forms have the necessary tools so they can be successful in the global marketplace. Timber companies that are organized as corporations continue to be under intensifying pressure to reorganize. In that case, a corporation that owns substantial manufacturing facilities would be forced to sell some of those facilities and to make other structural changes in order to comply with the relevant tax rules that it would newly become subject to. This would be likely to cause disruptions in some of these communities and also would make it harder for U.S. companies to compete internationally. In Arkansas, like so many other States across our Nation, a strong forest product industry is essential to having a strong economy. A permanent solution to the TREE Act II is imperative for this industry and supporting the jobs it provides. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to ensure this important tax policy is made permanent.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise to talk about my support and encourage my colleagues to join me in revisiting and passing what we tried to do earlier today, and that was supporting the Jobs, Energy, Families, and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 on which we had a procedural motion. I find this bill, in these last couple of days of our working period before we leave to return to our States, one of the most important things we can do. Is it everything we can do? No, it is not. We can't do everything in one fell swoop. But there are a lot of things we can do to get started. I applaud the hard work that was put into this package by the Finance Committee chairman, Senator Baucus. I also congratulate our counterparts in the House Ways and Means Committee for their tremendous efforts in putting together this very important piece of legislation that puts us off on a very sound footing and a good beginning, heading in the right direction of where we need to go. The vote we took earlier today was the third time we have attempted to proceed to this very important package of tax incentives, the so- called tax extenders package, this year. Unfortunately, we do it every year. Unfortunately, we patch over every year the opportunity we try to have put forward by the Government, the incentives we need to create an environment. That is what government does. Government creates an environment where businesses, families, industries, and States can be successful. That is exactly what this bill does. It is what we tried to do earlier today. I hope we will continue to push forward in creating an environment where people and businesses can do for themselves in an environment that government has created, to take care of their issues, whether they be disasters or a competitive nature across this globe, but to use that environment to strengthen themselves, to build their businesses, their families, their communities in a way that has been consistent with the American spirit through generations of great Americans. We tried three times, and I had so hoped that the third time would be the charm. Maybe it is the fourth time. Maybe it is the fifth. I very much believe this is something we have to do, and we should do it before we leave to head home to our States for the break. During the past few months I have talked extensively about this extenders package and some of the things I think are so important. There are many benefits here that working families will see, benefits for working families, communities, businesses, so many of which are so needed at this time. Under this legislation, some 1 million additional children will be covered by the child tax credit and more than 27,000 American businesses will be able to remain globally competitive through the use of research and development tax credits. We are talking about a time when gas prices are high. Food prices are high. People are finding that the dollars they are earning are not going as far. Yet they are still trying hard to keep their body and soul and their families together. They are still trying to do for their children and aging parents the things that need to be done. One million additional children would have been covered in this bill with the child tax credit. These are extremely important policy initiatives we need to be providing, now more than ever, for our American taxpayers. In addition, there is almost $20 billion in incentives included in this package to move us toward energy independence. We have heard all of our colleagues coming down here talking about energy independence, talking about the dire straits working families are in. My State ranks 48 in the low-income category of hard-working Americans. I know because in recent studies we have seen back in May, on average Arkansans were paying 8 percent of their income toward gasoline and in some other, more desperate counties, they were paying up to 11 percent of their income for fuel, particularly for gasoline. They are being hit hard. There are some things we can do. This package will provide long-term extension of our renewable energy and energy efficiency tax credits so we can provide some certainty in these very important new industries that are job creators but also the hope for the future of where we go in terms of energy needs. It creates a tax credit for consumers who purchase new technology, highly fuel-efficient vehicles. It also continues our commitment of moving toward alternative fuels through the extension of the renewable diesel and biodiesel tax credit. We know there are a lot of opportunities we have. Yes, trying to deal with the manipulation of markets by speculation is one route we need to take. Yes, we know that making sure we are taking advantage of new resources and old resources that exist in our oil and gas industry is important. We know there are multiple things we can do in renewable fuels and a host of other areas where we can turn to that we never believed we could get fuel from, everything from biomass to algae, a whole host of new technologies coming out, research that is proving to us that there is a whole new world out there of energy and energy sources. These are all initiatives in a bill that should have broad bipartisan support. We should enact them as soon as possible. To be sure, there is certainly a lot more, whether it is speculation or drilling or other things, that we could be doing. There is more that can be done to deal with our energy crisis. But the almost $20 billion in incentives included in this package is quite a downpayment in moving us in the right direction. To my friends on the other side of the aisle who have been here on the floor this week arguing for action on energy legislation before we leave for August, I agree with you. I think it is so important that we do something. We need to do something. We have to do something. This package we have seen come before us earlier today would have been a great first step. It still can be. We need to make sure we are passing an extenders bill, coupled with a host of other things that are essential for us to go home in August with to tell our constituents that we do hear the message they are sending. We could pass it with bipartisan support and get even more done when we come back in September. People know we are not going to do everything at once. They don't expect that of us. But they do expect us to take, step by step, the opportunities we have to do something about the energy crisis. We also have in this bill the highway trust fund. The needs in the highway trust fund are tremendous. Come next month, we are going to see a deficit there. We are going to see a crisis in our highway trust fund. We are going to have to deal with that. Why shouldn't we be dealing with it today or tomorrow but certainly before we leave? Finally and most importantly, the chairman of the Finance Committee has included a package of tax relief for areas all across the country hit with horrific weather and declared Federal disaster areas. This will provide vital resources to help in recovery efforts all across the Nation; in 26 States, to be exact. I am extremely thankful for the inclusion of this piece in the bill because Arkansas has suffered from a string of tornadoes and record-setting floods. The series of natural disasters in my home State this year has been unlike any I have seen in my lifetime. It has left 62 of our 75 counties in Arkansas in need of Federal disaster assistance. Wave after wave of storms have rocked the residents of Arkansas and have left many shell shocked. It started on February 5 when a band of tornadoes created a path of destruction, which we can see here, that stretched across 12 counties in Arkansas, killing 13 people, injuring 133, and destroying more than 880 homes. It was the deadliest storm in nearly 10 years. On that day, one tornado gouged a 123-mile path, hitting the ground, staying on the ground for that long a period. Along the way, around 5:30 that afternoon, it hit a family-owned boat factory in Clinton, AR, where 16 employees were in the factory at the time working late to load a shipment of boats on a truck. The F-4 tornado struck. Unfortunately, the life of Thomas Armstrong was lost. The building was totaled. The 20-year-old business that had produced 550 to 600 boats a year and provided $15,000 a week in salaries to its 45 employees was a complete loss. As we can see here, it was completely destroyed. I traveled with Senator Pryor and Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe to assess the damage across the State. In Van Buren County in central Arkansas, 45 homes and countless businesses were destroyed. Conway County had 140 homes destroyed or that suffered major damage. The hospital in Mountain View got hit as well. Within hours, hospital administrators and personnel, helped by volunteers, reacted swiftly to stabilize the area. They were able to use the emergency room for persons with serious injuries and evacuated patients with nonlife- threatening conditions to nursing homes and other facilities around the county. In the town of Highland in north central Arkansas, a facility that housed the equipment for the volunteer fire department was completely destroyed. A little more than a month later, heavy storms hit Arkansas again. This time they brought rain and more rain and more rain. The result was flooding not seen in some areas for over 90 years. Thirty-five Arkansas counties were declared disaster areas from the storm. In the town of Pocahontas, the Black River crested at 26.5 feet, its highest level since August of 1915, and three breaks in its levees flooded homes and apartments. This is a scene from the Black River in Pocahontas in Randolph County. In Des Arc, where I traveled with Governor Beebe, the White River crested at a little more than 33 feet, almost 9 feet above flood stage. Further up the White River, the community of Oil Trough got hit twice. The first time it was only a few homes. Ten days later, rains came a second time and flooded the entire city, forcing residents and businesses to completely evacuate. On April 3, another set of tornadoes hit central Arkansas. Although not as deadly as the ones that hit us in February, four twisters touched down in a five-county area, including some of the counties suffering from those floods. In addition, two more rounds of tornadoes hit the State in May, bringing the total to 62 counties affected by these storms that hit this year. All but 13 counties in my State have been declared Federal disaster areas, causing millions of dollars in property damage and at least 26 known deaths. While it has been a traumatic few months for thousands of Arkansans, I have been struck, of course, by the resiliency of my State's residents. I have always said the people of Arkansas are our greatest resource, whether it is to the rest of this country and what we have to offer or whether it is to one another. Their ability to pitch in and help their neighbors has been nothing short of extraordinary. But they need help to finish the job. This bill we tried to pass earlier today and in weeks past provides needed assistance. That is why I am so grateful Chairman Baucus has included this tax incentive package for individuals who have experienced loss from these horrific disasters. This tax relief will help my Arkansas families deal with expenses related to debris removal, cleanup, and repair. It will allow them to adjust their taxable income, taking into account property losses they have suffered. It will allow them to access their own savings they have tucked away in IRAs and other retirement plans penalty free. It will provide a credit for small businesses that continue paying their employees while their business is inoperable and being rebuilt. These important provisions, among others, will do wonders for my Arkansas families and businesses impacted by these unbelievable storms and flooding. And I am not alone. Many of my neighboring States--Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky--experienced the same storms Arkansas did, and they are suffering in the same ways--not to mention the floods that impacted individuals in Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, and Kansas in recent months, who all would benefit from this. I recognize this package of disaster relief may not be as generous as some may have preferred. But it is a good package. It is a consensus package. If passed, it will provide immediate relief for all of our storm victims. I urge my colleagues to recognize the value in this package. I urge them to take a close look and recognize the benefits it will bring to their communities that are suffering so desperately. We should stand together. We should all look around this room and understand we are here together as a body to represent this great land, each of our States, of course, but to recognize as neighbors we all have shared in much disaster. We should stand together to do the right thing and enact this package--if we get another opportunity--of broad- based tax relief that will help our working families, our businesses, and our damaged communities. There is certainly a great opportunity here if all of us band together and realize that in the next 2 days before we leave we have this wonderful opportunity to come together to do something for our Nation. I hope we will. I encourage my colleagues to ask to be able to come back to that relief package as well as that tax incentive package that will do so much. Thank you, Mr. President.