Blanche Lincoln

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Will the Senator yield? Not only do they pay payroll taxes, but they also pay sales tax when they buy new tires for that vehicle. They pay excise taxes. For people who live in States like ours which are predominantly rural, who have to drive great distances to their jobs, perhaps, when they pump gasoline, they are paying an excise tax. They pay property taxes and also they have to pay State income taxes in some instances that are different from Federal income taxes. The Senator from North Dakota makes some very good points. These are taxpayers, hard-working people trying to raise a family, playing by the rules, and they are paying taxes. I would like to ask the Senator, when was the last time you saw anybody offer up a tax cut on their sales tax or on their excise tax or on the other taxes they do suffer from or that they are burdened with? In other words, they are going to see all the tax increases but never see any of the tax decreases or the tax benefits, if we do not look to making these child tax credits refundable to those 12 million children who are out there, in these families who are continuing to pay not only payroll taxes but the sales taxes and the excise taxes and everything else out there. The Senator makes an excellent point.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Yes.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues from Nevada and California, and all of those who have come to the floor today to talk about a very important issue. I also compliment my colleague, Chairman Domenici, as well as the ranking member, Senator Bingaman, for an incredible effort on our Energy bill. There is no doubt that we need to address the energy needs of this country. We have for the last 25 years tried to modernize what we do in energy. I think this bill is an incredibly important bill. I hope my amendment does not in any way diminish my support for what the chairman is doing in moving forward on the Energy bill. It is equally important to the working families of this great Nation that we address those issues and look at ways of finding alternative fuels. Lord knows, for those who pay the bill at home--the last time I paid my gas bill, it was enormously high, and for American families as well. When we look at an opportunity for an energy package, such as the chairman is bringing to us, we can certainly provide for our families some of their capabilities to raise their family and be productive and strengthen this great country in which we live. I hope the chairman can understand. I noticed his disappointment as we shifted off that amendment. I, too, was disappointed. I was disappointed when this child credit bill was taken out of the bill in the dark of the night--something that was important to so many families across this Nation. I also want to plead with those who are disappointed. We have shifted off only for a moment. We will return tomorrow and go vigorously at this Energy bill. We only have a limited amount of time. This tax package was signed into law. Many individuals will reap its benefits come the first of July. But these 12 million children and their families will not get those benefits on July 1 unless we act quickly. Certainly, we all know that when we have made mistakes, or when we have done something which we think we could have done better, what do we do? We immediately try to correct it. We don't sit around as it becomes worse; we deal with that issue. That is all I have been asking. This is an appropriate bill. It is a revenue measure, and it is appropriate for me to bring up an amendment such as this. Again, I don't want those who are working so hard and who have invested so much time, as I have, too, on the Energy bill to think we are trying to divert any of that attention. We are simply trying to correct something that was done incorrectly. We only have a limited amount of time. We want to make sure that these families are given the same benefits and the same opportunities this tax bill will give other Americans to infuse the economy, to help grow the economy of this great country and, thus, strengthen our Nation. We talk about it time and time again. I hope as we reflect on these families that we are actually trying to help those working families who are making between $10,500 and $26,625. These are the families who have been left out. I promise you, these people do pay taxes. Although they may not fall into the category of paying enormous income taxes, think of the sales taxes they pay, think of the excise taxes they pay, think of the property taxes they may pay, and think of some of the State taxes they may pay. They are paying taxes that are consuming a lot of their take-home pay. The problem we have is that they are trying desperately and passionately to raise their children with the same values you and I have. Why does it come to my attention? It is because of the time I have spent at home over the past 2 years shadowing welfare moms as we were debating the welfare reform package, recognizing that it is as painful for that welfare mother leaving a crying child at daycare as it is for me, a Senator. This past spring break, I spent my time traveling around the State of Arkansas visiting with workers. But then I, too, had to put on my hat and became a mom. I had to go and purchase blue jeans for my children. I had to buy tires for my car because my husband told me I had to--not because I wanted to spend my money there but because he told me it was for the safety of our family. We needed new tires. I had to put a new battery in my car--all of these things, none of which I did that was any different than any other working mom, no matter how much that working mom makes. All we are doing is asking for fairness in a package that is there to stimulate the economy. And for what reason? So we can strengthen our country. Not only do we want to give these families the capability to provide for their children in a way that is going to make their children stronger Americans, smarter Americans, healthier Americans, more safe Americans, but we want to give them the opportunity to participate in strengthening this country. This is not a handout. This is reaching a hand to our neighbors--those who are doing the same things we are doing: Raising our children and strengthening our families. I plead with my colleagues. If we notice something that we haven't done as best we could do it, let us fix it. Legislation is not a work of art; it is a work in progress. A lot of my colleagues agree with me. I have 49 cosponsors since we introduced the bill yesterday. Six of them are Republicans. It is bipartisan. I don't want this to be a partisan issue. I want this to be a strengthening issue; that we in the Senate believe our working families mean enough to us that we are going to share with them less than 1 percent of this tax bill to help them raise their families, to buy those tires, that washing powder. I paid the bill for my children's lunch tab at the school. None of these things is any different for these working families. We have to know that. We as a Senate have to know that. We can't sit on the pedestal and forget there are people out there trying to raise their families. We talk about values. We talk about how we want these children to be healthy, we want them to be tomorrow's leaders, we want them to have the compassion and the values that we talk about on the floor of this Senate. My friends, the best way we can teach them that is to walk our talk, to live these issues, to reach out to these working men and women of America, and say that our families are not just important to us, but your family is just as important; giving you this assistance to be the best families you can possibly be is a priority for us, a priority enough that we are going to take a few minutes out of our busy day on the floor of the Senate and correct something that we could have done better. We are going to take those few moments and make that happen. Then, we are going to resume our business with this Energy bill, and we are going to go back to our business of making the energy policy of this country even better for you, too. So I hope my colleagues will not take this incorrectly. This is not about slowing down a train or missing the train stop. This is about reaching out to the working men and women of this country and saying: My children are not only important to me, but your children are equally as important to me. And I want to do all that I can to give you the ability to be the best parent and for you to have the best family that you possibly can. To affect the lives of 12 million children--12 million children of working American families--is our opportunity this evening and tomorrow. These are people who are working. They are bringing home a paycheck, sometimes working two jobs, with both parents working perhaps. They have children. I hope that as a body we will not miss that opportunity to move forward, show our great Nation--and other nations, too--that when we talk about our children and their future, when we talk about the future of this country and the role we have to play globally in the future workforce of America and the future leaders of America, that we do believe it is a priority, priority enough to stop for a few moments and correct something we could have done better. Mr. President, I hope we will have multitudes of opportunities, as we move forward, to make a lot of things better, but in this opportunity here today and tomorrow as we begin to look at this issue and the bill that I have introduced, and that many of my colleagues have joined me in, I hope they will continue to join me in moving forward and doing what we can for the 12 million children who live in the working families of this great Nation, who have been left out of this tax package, to give them the relief and the opportunity to help grow and strengthen our country. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, with all due respect to my colleague, I reserve the right to object.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I also would like to talk about something that has been on the minds of many of my colleagues as well as others across this great land. After we finished the growth package the week before we took our break, I had many concerns about what we were doing in that growth package and what we were trying to do, what supposedly was our objective in terms of stimulating the economy. I think it is so important to recognize the reasons why we wanted to stimulate our economy in this country. I think that really is to move forward the growth of this great Nation. I think we need look no further than the American family if we want to understand why we want to stimulate growth in this great Nation to stimulate the economy. That is why I introduced the Working Taxpayer Fairness Restoration Act. I offered this bill on behalf of nearly 12 million children who were left behind when President Bush signed the 2003 tax bill. There were many of us who were very anxious to make sure we had a fairness in that stimulus package and in that tax bill; that there was a balance between fiscal responsibility and tax relief that would be available to all families. I have introduced the bill with many of my good friends, including Senators Snowe, Warner, Jeffords, Rockefeller, Collins, Reed, Bingaman, Landrieu, Johnson, Harkin, Kennedy, Pryor, Breaux, Edwards, Clinton, Corzine, Durbin, Sarbanes, Kerry, Lieberman, Schumer, Lautenberg, Mikulski, Reid, Graham of Florida, Baucus, Leahy, Nelson of Florida, Nelson of Nebraska, Levin, Carper, Hollings, Biden, Specter, Cantwell, Daschle, Stabenow, Dodd, Conrad, Voinovich, Akaka, Dorgan, Kohl, Chafee, Feinstein, and Boxer. This bill would restore a provision left on the cutting room floor when the House and Senate leaders finalized the conference report on the tax cut. Our bill will restore the advanced refundability of the child tax credit. My friend from Maine, Senator Olympia Snowe, and I have worked since 2001 to ensure all working families benefit from the child tax credit. We worked very hard to ensure in the 2001 tax cut that the child tax credit was refundable. During the Finance Committee deliberations on this year's tax bill, I successfully offered an amendment that would have advanced the refundability of the child tax credit. Regrettably, that provision was dropped in conference. Really, unless we pass this bill we have introduced soon, families with incomes between $10,500 and $26,625 will not get that $400 check that will be mailed in July as part of the 2003 tax bill. Since nearly half of the taxpayers in Arkansas have an adjusted gross income of less than $20,000, Arkansas families are among the hardest hit by this omission in the new tax law. Consider this: The base pay for a private in the military, serving in Iraq, is just under $16,000 per year. The average Arkansas firefighter makes between $22,000 and $25,000 a year. Many of those enlisted men and women, who could be given a few days' notice before being shipped off to war, and those firefighters who could get no more than just a few minutes' notice before rushing into a terrorist attack--they all have families, or many of them do. They work hard to support their families and to protect us. Yet they got left out when negotiators shook hands over that final tax bill. I was not in the room during those negotiations in the dark of night, and I understand very few of my colleagues were. But we are here today. We are all here in the Senate, working today, united, hopefully, in our effort to fight for these working families. Advancing the refundable portion of the child credit to cover these families will cost only $3.5 billion--just 1 percent of the entire cost of that tax bill. This measure had strong bipartisan support in the Senate, I am proud to say. I was proud to play a leading role to expand the child tax credit in the Senate bill. I am glad to have bipartisan support in my efforts on the bill that we have introduced to restore this provision. We will pay for this tax relief for working families by shutting down some of the Enron-related tax shelters. This pay-for was included in the Senate version of the 2003 tax bill that has already received the blessing of the majority of the Senate Members. Especially as our Nation contends with a sluggish economy, we should ensure that everyone benefits from the tax cut. After all, buying blue jeans for schoolchildren, washing powder for the laundry, or tires for the car costs just as much for a family making $20,000 a year as it does for a family making $100,000 a year. If we want to get our economy back on track, we need to make sure we are putting money into the pockets of consumers who will spend it. This is not about partisanship. It is not about who is going to win here or lose here today or in the next coming days. That is certainly evidenced by the cosponsorship of this bill. What this is about is doing what is right for the families who may need a little extra help, families who are working hard, day in and day out, playing by the rules, bringing home a paycheck and trying to raise their children the best way they know how: with good values and good examples. We should fix this problem--not in the future, not next year, not sometime down the road. We need to fix this and correct this inconsistency immediately. We have an opportunity to do what is right on behalf of the working men and women in this country who are working hard, creating a face for this Nation in the next 20 years. What is our Nation going to look like in the next 20 years? What are the values of the leaders of tomorrow? These faces and these values are in the children we are raising today. It is not too much for this body, or the coequal body of the House, to say the time is right, to put our money where our mouth is, to give these hard-working families the opportunity to get a little extra--a little extra of the incredible amount they pay into the system, a little bit extra to raise those children the best way they know how. I started by saying the initiative to stimulate the economy in this country was an initiative, I think, based on what we all wanted to achieve: Not just to stimulate the economy but to strengthen our Nation. And, once again, we have the opportunity, and we need to look no further than the faces of our children and the workers of the American family in order to be able to do that. Let us make these American families our priority today. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to calendar No. 52, H.R. 1308, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to end certain abusive tax practices; that the Lincoln substitute amendment, which is at the desk and is a modified version of S. 1162, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to accelerate the increase in the refundability of the child tax credit, be considered and agreed to; that the bill H.R. 1308, as amended, be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, without intervening action or debate, on behalf of working American families.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Yes. I object. I would like to comment. I think I know what the chairman is doing. I would like to comment that we did provide pay-for in our bill. My concern for what he has offered is that it is going to add another $90 billion or $80 billion to unpaid debt in this country, for which I don't believe there is a pay-for. I respectfully object.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. M. President, I am proud to introduce today the Working Taxpayer Fairness Restoration Act. I offer this bill on behalf of the nearly 12 million children who were left behind when President Bush signed the 2003 tax bill. The bill that I am introducing, with many of my good friends, including Senators Snowe, Warner and Jeffords, will restore a provision left on the cutting-room floor when House and Senate leaders finalized the conference report on the tax cut. Our bill will restore the advanced refundability of the child tax credit. My friend from Maine and I have worked since 2001 to ensure that all working families benefit from the child tax credit. We worked to ensure in the 2001 tax cut that the child tax credit was refundable. During Finance Committee deliberations on this year's tax bill, I successfully offered an amendment that would have advanced the refundability of the child tax credit. Regrettably, that provision was dropped in conference. Unless we pass the bill that I am introducing today, families with incomes between $10,500 and $26,625 will not get the $400 checks that will be mailed in July as part of the 2003 tax bill. Since nearly half the taxpayers in Arkansas have adjusted gross incomes less than $20,000, Arkansas families are among the hardest hit by this omission in the new tax law. Consider this: The base pay for a private in the military is just under $16,000 per year. The average Arkansas firefighter makes between $22,000 and $25,000 a year. Many of those enlisted men, who could be given a few days' notice before being shipped off to war, and those firefighters, who could get no more than a few minutes' notice before rushing into a terrorist attack, have families. They work hard to support their families and to protect us. Yet they got left out when negotiators shook hands over the final tax bill. I wasn't in the room during those negotiations in the dark of night, and I understand that very few of my colleagues were. But we are here today, united in our effort to fight for these working families. Advancing the refundable portion of the child credit to cover these families will cost only $3.5 billion--just 1 percent of the entire cost of the tax cut. This measure had strong bipartisan support in the Senate, and I was proud to play a leading role to expand the children tax credit in the Senate bill. I'm glad to have bipartisan support in my effort today to restore this provision. We will pay for this tax relief for working families by shutting down some Enron-related tax shelters. This pay-for was included in the Senate version of the 2003 tax bill, so it has already received the blessing of a majority of the Senate. Especially as our nation contends with a sluggish economy, we should ensure that everyone benefits from the tax cut. After all, buying blue jeans for schoolchildren, washing powder for the laundry or tires for the car costs just as much for a family making $20,000 a year as it does for a family making $100,000. If we want to get our economy back on track, we need to make sure that we're putting money into the pockets of consumers who will spend it. This isn't about partisanship--as is evidenced by the cosponsors of this bill--it is about doing what's right for families who may need a little extra help. We should fix this problem immediately. Let's make these families a priority now.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. M. President, I am proud to introduce today the Working Taxpayer Fairness Restoration Act. I offer this bill on behalf of the nearly 12 million children who were left behind when President Bush signed the 2003 tax bill. The bill that I am introducing, with many of my good friends, including Senators Snowe, Warner and Jeffords, will restore a provision left on the cutting-room floor when House and Senate leaders finalized the conference report on the tax cut. Our bill will restore the advanced refundability of the child tax credit. My friend from Maine and I have worked since 2001 to ensure that all working families benefit from the child tax credit. We worked to ensure in the 2001 tax cut that the child tax credit was refundable. During Finance Committee deliberations on this year's tax bill, I successfully offered an amendment that would have advanced the refundability of the child tax credit. Regrettably, that provision was dropped in conference. Unless we pass the bill that I am introducing today, families with incomes between $10,500 and $26,625 will not get the $400 checks that will be mailed in July as part of the 2003 tax bill. Since nearly half the taxpayers in Arkansas have adjusted gross incomes less than $20,000, Arkansas families are among the hardest hit by this omission in the new tax law. Consider this: The base pay for a private in the military is just under $16,000 per year. The average Arkansas firefighter makes between $22,000 and $25,000 a year. Many of those enlisted men, who could be given a few days' notice before being shipped off to war, and those firefighters, who could get no more than a few minutes' notice before rushing into a terrorist attack, have families. They work hard to support their families and to protect us. Yet they got left out when negotiators shook hands over the final tax bill. I wasn't in the room during those negotiations in the dark of night, and I understand that very few of my colleagues were. But we are here today, united in our effort to fight for these working families. Advancing the refundable portion of the child credit to cover these families will cost only $3.5 billion--just 1 percent of the entire cost of the tax cut. This measure had strong bipartisan support in the Senate, and I was proud to play a leading role to expand the children tax credit in the Senate bill. I'm glad to have bipartisan support in my effort today to restore this provision. We will pay for this tax relief for working families by shutting down some Enron-related tax shelters. This pay-for was included in the Senate version of the 2003 tax bill, so it has already received the blessing of a majority of the Senate. Especially as our nation contends with a sluggish economy, we should ensure that everyone benefits from the tax cut. After all, buying blue jeans for schoolchildren, washing powder for the laundry or tires for the car costs just as much for a family making $20,000 a year as it does for a family making $100,000. If we want to get our economy back on track, we need to make sure that we're putting money into the pockets of consumers who will spend it. This isn't about partisanship--as is evidenced by the cosponsors of this bill--it is about doing what's right for families who may need a little extra help. We should fix this problem immediately. Let's make these families a priority now.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I want to associate myself with the remarks made by Senator Pryor. This is a matter that I discussed with Senator Inouye last year during the consideration of the Defense appropriations bill. For reasons unknown, environmental restoration of the former Eaker Air Force Base has languished for over a decade. It is past time to address this issue. It is time to clean up this land and enable the people of Blytheville to find new tenants that can contribute to the local economy. The people of Blytheville deserve Federal assistance to clean up the asbestos left behind by the Air Force. For 50 years, residents of Blytheville proudly support Eaker Air Force Base as home to a group of strategic air command B-52 bombers and more than 3,000 military personnel, before its closure in 1992. Before the closure, the military accounted for 15.2 percent of personal earnings, the largest of any industry in the county. Through industrial expansion at the Arkansas Aeroplex, I believe significant strides can be made to turn the economic situation in Blytheville around. The Aeroplex is home to a 2-mile runway. In fact, the runway could serve as an alternate landing site for the NASA space shuttle. The potential for new business is abundant, but the opportunities are hampered because of the asbestos-filled buildings. I look forward to working with Senator Pryor on this matter, and I hope our colleagues from the Senate Armed Services Committee will assist us on this issue.

Mr. LINCOLN

Mr. LINCOLN. DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive the applicable section of that act for purposes of the pending amendment and for the 4.4 million children who will be covered by this amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I hope everyone in this Chamber will agree that raising children is probably one of the most important and expensive undertakings in which we have all engaged. I hope we will also agree in this Chamber that the face of our country tomorrow will be shaped by how well we raise our children today, and that is not just our children, it is everyone's children. That is why I think my amendment is so important. Eight million children from working families at the very bottom of the income scale get no benefit from the child tax credit, but 4.4 million of those 8 million children would begin to get a benefit from the child benefit under the Lincoln amendment. By providing tax relief to those who need it the most, the Lincoln amendment will have a direct and meaningful stimulative effect on the economy. These families with children play by the rules. They go to work each day at extremely low wage jobs. They pay significant payroll, State, local excise taxes, maybe even property taxes. They struggle to make ends meet, yet they get no benefit from the child tax credit in this bill. On behalf of the children of this Nation, I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, may I inquire how much time I have?

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, with the amendment set aside, I call up my amendment.

Mrs. LINCOLN. I thank all of my colleagues for their attention today because I believe I brought something to the floor that is of the utmost importance to American families. I compliment the chairman of the Finance Committee. Having worked with limits on a multitude of issues, he is always reaching out and working hard with all the members of the Finance Committee. I applaud him for his efforts in working with me early in the committee to accelerate the child credit we have in this stimulus package. The acceleration of the child credit is very important in terms of reaching out to families and providing them the utmost resources to be able to care for their families, to be able to do what they need to do not only in taking care of their families but playing a role in stimulating this economy. We certainly know that with our businesses and industries operating at roughly 70 percent, it is critical, if these industries are going to create the jobs we want created for the sustainability of growing this economy, that they have a demand. They are going to need people demanding their products and services, and that will be critical. The way to do that is to provide families the resources and the means with which to provide for their families. That acceleration we provided in the committee went a long way in doing that. My hope is we will continue to move in that fashion, in the right direction of providing families the resources they need, the hard-working American families who are out there today working hard to provide for their families. This amendment does that through the expansion of the child credit. Basically, what we do is expand the child credit refundability by lowering the earnings threshold to $5,000. This is a reasonable request in light of what we are talking about--again, assistance to families in order to raise their children and provide for their needs, as well as stimulating the economy. I point out to my colleagues, there are 8 million children from working families in this great country at the very bottom of the income scale who get no benefit from the current child care tax credit, 8 million children in this country we are trying to raise in working families who get no benefit from this child tax credit; 4.4 million of those 8 million children would benefit from the child credit under the amendment I have offered today. By providing tax relief to those who need it the most, our amendment will have a direct and meaningful stimulative effect on the economy. I am joined in this amendment by several other cosponsors: Senators Rockefeller, Bingaman, Breaux, Daschle, Levin, Cantwell, Pryor, Kennedy, Dodd, and I think many others, when they realize what we are trying to do and the effect we can have on their States and, more importantly, the working families who are out there every day trying to make ends meet. The families of these kids play by the rules. These are individuals who are working. They go to work every day at extremely low wage jobs. They pay significant payroll, State, and local taxes, excise taxes, and property taxes. Oftentimes they struggle to make ends meet, yet they get no benefit from the child tax credit. Now, I hope my colleagues will indulge me for just a moment. One of the things many reflect on is that raising children is probably one of the most important and expensive undertakings that anyone has. We do it for good reason. We talk about what a great nation we live in. We talk about how wonderful it is to be a part of the greatest country on the face of this Earth. Then we think about the face of our country tomorrow. Who will be the face of this country tomorrow? What will it look like? The face of this country, tomorrow and in the future, will be shaped by how well we raise our children today. That is what I am asking my colleagues to focus on. It is not just our children. I don't just worry about my children and their well-being. I worry about the other parents' children who are out there, who will be the coworkers with my children, who will be the leaders of tomorrow. They will be the face of this country when we are working in a global economy with multitudes of nations across the globe. These are the children we are raising today. My colleagues, we have an opportunity today to give a hand to these parents in raising these children with a simple child credit, a refundable child credit. These are people who are hard-working. To be eligible, they have to be in a job. They have to meet an earnings limit. They have to have children. We are not just giving a freebie; we are reaching out to these hard-working parents and saying let us help you shape the face of this country tomorrow. Just one more indulgence. As I talk about raising children and the importance of that face of tomorrow, I reflect on the time I have spent in my State visiting with and shadowing some of our low-income workers, particularly some single moms who have been out there working. They are working parents with children in childcare, struggling with challenges of childcare and transportation. There are multitudes of challenges they face. I look at what I spent my time doing during the Easter break, during the 2 weeks we are off from Congress, home in our States. I spent a lot of time on the road, visiting with children, parents, chambers of commerce, Rotary groups, development groups, planning districts--all of those different groups. But I also switched my hat around for a few days and spent some time myself out there as a mother, as a parent. I went to the store after looking at the fliers and seeing where the sales were, and I thought about what I did with my time and my resources. I thought that with two growing boys, age almost 7, I had to replace wornout blue jeans, wornout tennis shoes, that I wrote a check to my school for their lunchroom tab, the fact I wrote a check to make sure they would be on the Little League team and made sure they had their uniforms. I looked at the other things, the county summer programs I wanted to include them in so they would have good activities, exercise, and grow just like any 7-year-old little boy ought to be growing. I looked at what we did. We didn't go to Disney World. We didn't do anything expensive. They went fishing with their grandfather and spent some time with their cousins and grandmothers. But I looked back at the time and the resources I spent in molding and shaping those two little boys. Let me tell you, it was no different than any other working mom. If we want to stimulate this economy, if we want to develop a nation with the kind of leadership and future I think everyone in this body wants us to have, then it is absolutely critical that we look at expanding that child credit to these working families. Under the current law, the President's proposal, and the Finance Committee bill, a working family with earned income of $10,000 gets no benefit from the child credit. Our amendment today would give such a family with two children a total benefit of $500. This does not seem to be much money to many of us perhaps, but it amounts to a significant increase in the amount of money available to these families to provide for the most fundamental needs for their children. Again, we are talking about basic needs that also will drive the economy. These people are not going to be able to participate in stimulating the economy if they don't have the extra resources they need. These are working individuals. Children have a variety of needs at a variety of ages, the most fundamental of them being shelter, food, clothes, education, and health care, and $500 can make a substantial difference to a family with an earned income of $10,000 or less. This sort of benefit can go a long way in helping these families raise their children, encouraging them to excel in their jobs and to set a good example. It is the least we can do for these struggling and impoverished families who, again, are working hard every day earning money and at the same time trying to care for their children. They have the same kind of love and compassion, the same kind of ability to give them the basic needs that every one of us tries to have every day. I just implore my colleagues, please look at this opportunity we have before us today, an opportunity to reach out to working American families who are struggling day in and day out to do what is right. They are struggling to do what is right by their children, perhaps simply out of their own compassion and love for their children, not knowing that we as a nation are depending on those children to be the leaders and the providers, the employees of tomorrow. I ask my colleagues to take a look at this amendment. Recognize all we are doing is postponing the 20 percent exclusion on dividends--only postponing it for 3 years, postponing that exclusion in order to mold and shape the future of this country. I would like to share with my colleagues in just a few of my neighboring States what they would see. Arkansas would see the number of added kids, when we move to that $5,000 threshold, an increase in Arkansas of 60,000 children we could cover. I look around at my neighbors: Mississippi would see 100,000 children additionally covered. In Tennessee, you would see 108,000 children eligible who would not be eligible otherwise. In the State of Texas, my neighbor to the south, you would see 467,000 children added with a benefit if we passed this amendment. I implore my colleagues to really take a look at what our purpose is today, what we have been striving to do. Let's not just try to stimulate the economy but use the opportunity we have in growing this economy to grow this great country. I daresay there will not be anyone in this Chamber who could argue with me that the future of this country lies in the future of our children. Once again, we have a tremendous opportunity. I hope my colleagues will realize that 4.4 million of the 8 million kids who are left out under the current bill would begin to benefit from a child credit under this amendment. By providing this tax relief to those, again, who need it the most, we will have a direct and meaningful stimulative effect on the economy. Let me tell you, just as I did as I turned my hat around and became a mother during my break time, these families will spend those dollars. They will spend them on our greatest asset this country could possibly have, and that is our children. I thank you for the time. I yield the floor and encourage my colleagues to support my amendment.

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

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, due to an electronic failure, I was absent during the vote on the confirmation of Jeffrey Sutton to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on his confirmation. After reviewing Mr. Sutton's record, I was not confident he could fulfill his obligation as a Federal appellate court judge to follow established precedent, interpret the law and Constitution fairly, and treat all litigants before him without favor or bias. In my estimation, Mr. Sutton's proactive and consistent advocacy to limit Federal civil rights protections is incompatible with the temperament and detachment I look for in nominees being considered for a lifetime appointment.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I thank all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for coming down and being a part of what we have to do here in the Senate. It is incredibly important that we pay tribute to our troops. We see much progress over recent days in the conflict in Iraq, in our efforts to topple a totalitarian regime that has been incredibly harsh on its people. The progress we have seen is incredible, and it is due to the unbelievable professionalism and training of the service men and women in the Armed Forces of the United States. They have done an incredible job. They have had the best technology. We have had the best individuals, professionally trained, out there making an enormous difference. I think all you have to do is look at what we have done in Baghdad on the Iraqi regime's strategic sites, where we have tried so diligently and our forces have been so successful in minimizing what has happened to the civilians in Iraq. We have also seen the joy on the faces of the Iraqi people as they have seen the liberation from a regime that has been so daunting to them. I come from a rural State. It is most important, certainly when you live out in the rural areas, to have good neighbors because you depend on your neighbors for a lot, whether you need to borrow a cup of sugar or you need someone to help you bring your crops in from the field or, more importantly, the way we depend on our neighbors to help us as a community in raising our families, making sure we are safe. We are in a global community now. Our actions in Iraq that will follow--and in neighboring countries--in rebuilding not only Iraq but certainly the alliances we have with other countries, are going to be so important. These are our neighbors in the global community. I think we are all anxious to see other nations join, those that may not have been there during the war, in making sure those alliances will be made and that we will have a concerted effort globally in rebuilding Iraq and the total of the Middle East because we all understand how important it is in the global community for us to have good neighbors. There is no doubt the Iraqi people, with the assistance of the U.N., the United States, and other alliances and neighbors, can build a very strong democracy which will be a guidepost as well as a good example for others. I, too, want to reach out to our soldiers, our men and women in the armed services. One of the most important thoughts I have heard from some of our service men and women is for us here in the States and at home to reach out to their families. We have an incredible opportunity, as Senator Hutchison has said, to recognize those missed birthdays-- they have missed births altogether--important dates, and other events. Let's make sure in our communities we reach out to those families; that we lift them up in our prayers and reach out in ways in which we can be helpful. I think one of the greatest ways we can honor the men and women who are serving us in the Armed Forces is to reach out to their families and make sure we are supportive. I know we have a medical unit out in Jonesboro, AR, that is headed now to Washington to finish up training in Walter Reed. They will be shipped out shortly after that to Kuwait. We are seeing new families who are obviously having their loved ones shipped out. We want to make sure we continue the process of supporting them. As we look to that rebuilding, we know the reconstruction in Iraq is going to be challenging. But because of the professionalism, because of the technical aspects of the Armed Forces of the United States, the rebuilding will be not nearly as challenging as that of past wars because we have been able to determine where we wanted to make the biggest impact and target that without disturbing, as much as was possible, the overall community in Iraq, particularly civilians. We pay tribute once again to the troops, to our service men and women. We are very proud of their professionalism, their technical capabilities. We lift up their families once again as a body in prayer for all of them. I now yield to the Senator from Montana, Mr. Baucus.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, my good friend, the senior Senator from Texas, Mrs. Hutchison, has been so steadfast in coming to the floor each day to salute our troops. I thank her for her leadership and for her diligence. I think she has done a tremendous job. I am honored and pleased to have been working with her. She has just done a fabulous job and I think has really elevated the recognition of the service of our men and women in combat. She has done an excellent job. I thank her very much. As Senator Hutchison has said on numerous occasions, and as she began today, we are so very proud of our troops, the men and women who are serving our great country, with their brave service and their tremendous courage, and also their humane treatment of Iraqi civilians and Iraqi prisoners of war. The United States has complied with the Geneva Convention and international laws concerning the treatment of prisoners, and we call on the followers of Saddam Hussein to do the same. The incredible vision we saw yesterday, as Senator Hutchison mentioned. We saw on the television the cheers of the Iraqi people over the freedom they had begun to feel in their blood and their bones, the idea that they no longer would have to fear expressing themselves, their ideas, their goals, their dreams for their families and for their country. What a wonderful feeling for all of us. As Senator Coleman mentioned, we don't want to think that everything has been accomplished. We know there is still much to be done. But again, what a vision to keep in our eyes and in our hearts of a people who have reached something we have long had in our grasp in this wonderful country. Earlier this week I learned just how well the United States is treating our Iraqi POWs, how well we are working with our service men and women and our armed services to make sure we are doing right by the Geneva Convention. In earlier remarks on the Senate floor some of my colleagues may recall I reported that a member of my staff, my congressional staff, Marine Reservist LCpl Jason Smedley had been injured in battle. Jason returned to the United States this week on a brief medical leave, and he stopped by my office on Monday. My entire staff sat in rapt attention for some time as Jason shared his experiences in the war on Iraq. Jason said while he was being treated for his injuries in a Kuwaiti hospital, Iraqi soldiers lay across the room from him, receiving the identical quality of medical care. Think of that-- American soldiers recovering from battle wounds alongside Iraqi prisoners of war. I remember the words from Jason. He said: We have definitely kept with the Geneva Convention. Contrast that with what we have heard and seen of the Iraqi regime's criminal treatment of American POWs, including Jessica Lynch, not to mention the ghastly exhibitions of bodies of American soldiers in shallow graves in which our soldiers found their fallen brothers and sisters. Jason reported to us many Iraqi citizens are, to quote him, ``definitely glad we are here.'' He told of seeing Iraqi mothers bringing children who had been ill for years to U.S. soldiers for medical care. One mother's child had had problems with her eyesight since birth, and that mother was full of hope as she carried her child to a U.S. soldier. Imagine that--Iraqi children receiving better medical care from our soldiers in the field than they got for years under a brutal dictator who built opulent palaces for himself. We have seen news reports of the guerrilla tactics employed by Iraqi troops posing as civilians and then ambushing our soldiers. Jason said soldiers of the Iraqi regime stood out even when they were wearing civilian clothing because they appeared to be strong and healthy, and it was such a stark contrast to the malnourished, despondent Iraqi civilians Jason had encountered. Jason said he had many opportunities to talk to Iraqi civilians, and he made it his mission to seek their opinions of Saddam Hussein. Without exception, he said, they all wanted Saddam Hussein to be removed from power. An Arab-speaking man who had accompanied Jason's unit as an interpreter had a very personal reason for volunteering to serve with the U.S. forces. He himself had been abducted and tortured by the Iraqi regime after they had invaded Kuwait. Jason had been assigned to a unit that was to rebuild Iraq. He was not in a combat unit. When he was injured during an enemy attack, he was bedding down after helping evacuate about 500 Iraqi civilians who had been caught in the firefight from an Nasiriyah. This Sunday at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, the Commandant of the Marine Corps awarded Jason a Purple Heart. Since Jason has been back in the United States, he has burned up the phone lines calling to check on family members of fellow marines. He said several men had missed the birth of their children, and he recalled one marine listening intently on a ship-to-shore phone as his wife tried to describe their newborn son to him. That same marine was delighted when mail arrived with a CD-ROM video of his new baby as the ship steamed toward the Middle East. Jason had checked up on the marine's wife and many others because he said he and his fellow marines were so concerned about how their families were weathering the stress of the war. As I e-mailed Jason on his trip over on the ship, I was amazed at the response in the e-mail I got back. It wasn't about him. It was about me. He said: Senator, I want to lift up a prayer for you. He said: I am heading out to do what I am supposed to do. I want to lift up a prayer for you and all Americans because we are getting ready to enter into something so important, sharing something with the rest of the world, particularly a people who have not and do not understand what freedom feels like. How incredible of a young man that age, leaving to defend his country and, more importantly, what his country means to him. He has asked me to encourage all Americans who know families of our Armed Forces to check in on those family members regularly because that show of support is the best way we can help our troops. Senator Hutchison and I have come on different occasions to talk about this. We have lifted up one another's personal stories we have had from the war. It is important that the American families of our service men and women and that our service men and women who are there in harm's way understand as we lift up these tributes to our troops, we are not just talking about those we know the best and most intimately, those who are a part of our family, we as a body are lifting up our pride, our prayers, the honor we feel for each and every service man and woman who is there putting themselves in harm's way on our behalf. It is so critical to take to heart Jason's words that those of us out there living in different communities know one of the best things we can do for our troops is to reach out to their families--families who are frightened, nervous, who may not be hearing as much as they want from their loved ones serving this great land. I hope we all, both as Senators, as Congress in general, and more importantly, as Americans reach out to those very important families. While Jason's mother and I shared a sigh of relief that Jason is temporarily back in the United States out of harm's way, this dedicated young man says he hopes to return to his unit until the job is done, the job of sharing those incredible treasures we, as the American people, hold so dear, to help share with the Iraqi people what freedom means, to be able to speak out your ideas, your thoughts, your prayers, and ideals, how you believe your country can be stronger and should be run--things that oftentimes, as we move about our busy lives, whether it is to the grocery store or to drop children off at school, we take for granted. I am proud of Jason Smedley, whose courage and character exemplifies our U.S. soldiers; a young man who spent nearly 1 month on a ship en route to Kuwait; a young man who had the chance to take a shower just once a week in Kuwait and not once after entering Iraq; a young man who helped dig out his unit's camp in a former trash dump where even the roaches were dead; a young man who endured hot days and cold nights in stinging sandstorms; a young man who has been in five hospitals in the last 2 weeks, but always reaching out to the patient next to him; a young man wounded in battle who saw his fellow soldiers lose their limbs; a young man whose wish is that he might get to go back and be with his unit to help rebuild Iraq for the oppressed people of that country. I am so very proud of all of our brave and selfless young men and women serving in harm's way in Iraq and throughout the world, just as Jason Smedley has been--going with the spirit of America to share what each and every one of them holds so near and dear to their hearts: the freedoms and the treasures of being an American. Madam President, may God bless them and bless our Nation as we continue to bring what democracy and freedom can share with the entire world. I thank you for this opportunity. Again, I compliment my colleague from Texas, Senator Hutchison. At this point, I will yield the floor to my colleague from Delaware, Senator Carper, and thank him so much for taking the time to be here with us.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the American troops in the National Guard and Reserves who are placing themselves in harm's way to defend our Nation against the threats of terrorism and rogue states. As of Wednesday, April 2, 2003, there are 218,931 reservists and guardsmen nationwide activated in the war on terrorism and in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Currently, there are 2,356 Arkansans activated in the Guard and Reserves, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. I would like to ask that the attached list be printed in the Record following my remarks. The sacrifices that these men and women are making protect our freedoms, defend our liberties, and ensure regional and global stability. We are very proud of each and every one of them, and we owe all them a tremendous debt of gratitude for their service and for their dedication to their country. We look forward to welcoming them home safely.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I compliment my colleague from Texas. She and I have embarked on this opportunity to really highlight a tribute to our troops. I am honored to share the responsibility with her, and I am certainly appreciative of all the stories she brings to light as we do highlight and pay tribute to our troops. It is really a forum for all of us to share in saluting the efforts of our men and women in uniform, and also to remind one another that as we lift up our prayers and thoughts for the families of our constituencies that have men, women, and family members who are fighting in the Middle East in this conflict, we can also lift up our thoughts and prayers for one another's constituents. It is not just the people from Arkansas I can lift up my prayers for but all the service men and women, so that they know in return it is not just their Senators but our whole body having thoughts and prayers for the men and women who are so gallantly defending our freedoms in a land so far away. When we kicked this off last week, we really hoped to have daily contributions from our colleagues paying tribute to our Armed Forces and to those among our own constituents who are sacrificing in the liberation of Iraq and other operations. I speak for myself and, I am sure, Senator Hutchison when I say the response has been overwhelming. We appreciate the contributions made by our colleagues and others who have brought stories to the floor. We thank our colleagues for their participation and encourage all of them to continue to bring forth those stories so that we all might share with one another the experiences we are having in our own offices, particularly with our own constituents. Today I want to briefly speak about two of my constituents from Arkansas, both of whom were called to serve in Iraq. The first is Hospital Corpsman Michael Vann Johnson, Jr, a 25-year- old Navy medic and Little Rock native who was serving in the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marine Expeditionary Force. On Tuesday of last week, Michael was the first Arkansas serviceman reported to die in action, as well as the first Navy casualty, when he was hit by shrapnel from an exploding grenade. At that time, Michael was tending to another wounded soldier, placing himself in harm's way in order to minister to the needs of others. His was a display of incredible courage and a testament to our troops' dedication to their brothers and sisters in battle. Oftentimes we do not really think about the camaraderie and the dedication these men and women in uniform have with one another, but it is a tremendous sacrifice they make on behalf of one another. His was a display of courage and certainly dedication to his fellow man. I have with me today a story about Michael Johnson that was published in yesterday's Washington Post, a story that gives us a glimpse of the kind of man he was. The story details a number of Michael's qualities as remembered by those who really knew him the best--his energy, his intelligence, his compassion, and his generosity. These were the qualities that spurred him to volunteer for an assignment in the Middle East because he wanted to be there to help his brothers when they went into battle. I ask unanimous consent that this Washington Post profile of Michael Johnson be printed in the Record following my remarks.

Mrs. LINCOLN. I thank the Chair. Mr. President, as his father, Michael Vann Johnson, Sr., said last week: He died for the freedom that we have, the freedom that each of us loves. A beautiful sentiment and a fitting tribute to a young man who made the ultimate sacrifice to make this world a safer place for all of us. I know my colleagues join me in sending out our deepest condolences to Michael's family, friends, and loved ones, particularly his parents and his wife Cherice, in this very difficult time. As I mentioned earlier, it is so important for us collectively, as a body, to lift up our prayers for each and every man and woman serving this country in conflict right now. So I ask all of my colleagues to keep his family in their prayers. I would also like to recognize today LCpl James Smedley of the U.S. Marine Corps. Prior to being deployed to Iraq, Jason was assigned to the 4th Civil Affairs Group here in Washington, DC. He was also enrolled as a student at Howard University. And if all of that is not enough to keep a young man busy at his age, he was also a valuable full-time member of my personal staff here in my Washington office. In January, Jason was deployed to Iraq. He was called up on a Tuesday, and he left on that following Friday. Some of my colleagues may recall that Jason accompanied me here one morning before his departure so that I could recognize his service on the Senate floor. He is a very handsome young man, full of energy, excitement, and dedication not only to his country but to his fellow man and to his Creator. He is the epitome of what we think of in the youth of America: young people who are excited about what they can contribute, who they can become, and what they can do for others. On Friday morning, we received news that Jason had been wounded in combat and was being transported to a field hospital. For several hours that morning, we were uncertain as to the extent of the injuries he had suffered, but I am happy to report that although Jason had been wounded, he is safe and secure at a military hospital in Germany with relatively minor wounds to his arm and his hand. He is expected to recover fully from his injuries and may, in fact, return to the battlefield upon his recovery. That is yet to be determined. I have to share what I felt when I got an e-mail that said Jason had been wounded. We did not know how he was. All we knew is he was in a field hospital probably about to undergo surgery. I knew that I was going to have to call his mother, Carolyn, whom I knew and who had come up with Jason to help him pack for his departure. I thought about how she must feel. I thought to myself: Here I am with twin boys almost 7 years old. Sometimes I even have a twinge of, I do not know, guilt, or certainly just distance when my children go for a sleepover, and here this woman had sent her son across the sea to a land unknown to him and to her. How she must feel to have gotten word that he had been injured but she did not know how badly, she did not know where he was, she did not know who was caring for him. I called her, and she was remarkably steady. She, too, had gotten an e-mail from Jason just a couple of weeks ago where he had lifted up a prayer for her, just like the e-mail he had sent me: Dear Senator, I want you to know how I am doing. I have wonderful men that I am traveling with and who I will be fighting with, and I want to lift up a prayer for you. I want to lift up a prayer for you and for my friends in the office. This was a young man not worried about himself but about others. When I spoke with Carolyn, she was remarkably steady, and through the course of the day, we received another e-mail saying that he was doing OK, we knew where he was, and that he was going to be all right. I heard the sigh of a comforted mother who had gotten word that everything was OK for the time being. What small way I could identify with that, I lifted up my sigh, too. Along with Jason's families and friends, I wish to say I am deeply proud of his valiant service, and we all look forward to him returning home in good health as soon as possible. Jason Smedley, a young marine wounded in action, and Michael Johnson, a Navy corpsman killed as he bravely sacrificed to help others--these, Mr. President, are the human faces of the war to liberate Iraq. We will not forget their courage and commitment, and it is in their honor that the brave men and women of our Armed Forces, in conjunction with the troops of our allies, will move forward with their mission to liberate Iraq from the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein and destroy Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. The sacrifices of these young men and women will be well honored when this mission is complete. Mr. President, I wish to touch on one other item. I mentioned the e- mails. Many of our offices are getting e-mails and letters. I have recently received many e-mails from schoolchildren who want to send packages to our troops. They want to do letters and collages. They want to send care packages. Such patriotism among our young people always inspires me, and it is a wonderful tribute to the young people of this country. I know letters and pictures from schoolchildren across this country would light up the faces of our troops, many of which woke up this morning and each morning in sand-filled dugouts. At this point, the Department of Defense wants to make sure the letters and drawings from relatives make it to our troops first. So they asked us to hold off sending care packages to the Middle East for the time being. The Defense Department is encouraging folks who want to show their support to do so in a variety of ways, and I thought I would take a moment to share those with everybody. To send a message to the troops, you can e-mail them through www.operationdearabby.net. If you have already purchased goods to send in care packages, the Defense Department suggests that for the time being you send those to a local veterans home. A wonderful way to honor the men and women in service to this country today is to certainly honor those who have served our country in the past. If you have perishables or items you have brought together with the intent of sending them abroad, perhaps you could take them to a local veterans home and share them with the veterans community of this country. Then perhaps at a later date, you can do something for the troops abroad. You could also call a local base to notify the families of deployed servicemen that you have goods, and they can collect them and send them off if it is at all possible. The real key has been that the Department of Defense, for security purposes, does not want to be inundated with packages for our service men and women and hope you will look at creative ways to honor our troops, just as we are today and each and every day coming to the floor of the U.S. Senate to honor these wonderful service men and women who are defending our country. We are looking also for the multitude of ways we can honor them. We encourage each and every one of our constituents to be inventive and to look for other ways they can honor those service men and women who are serving our country. You could also support the troops by displaying a flag and teaching your children respect for the flag. Our hope is that in the coming weeks we will all look for ways to honor those men and women who are serving our country abroad, who are defending our freedoms, and who are working to eliminate the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. I thank all of my colleagues who join us in this effort, and in the coming days I look forward to the ways we can honor our troops. I do, again, appreciate the support and the work of my colleague from Texas, Senator Hutchison, in this effort. I yield the floor. Exhibit 1 [From the Washington Post, Mar. 30, 2003] Medic Who Died Torn by Duty, Doubts (By Amy Goldstein) As a medic at a San Diego naval clinic, he had been resolute in volunteering for duty in Iraq. But Michael V. Johnson Jr. was a healer by training and temperament, and once he arrived in the Middle East, he was uncertain of the morality of having placed himself in war. In letters to his wife, Cherice, sometime two letters a day, he wrote out his worries about what he--and the Marine division to which he was attached--might be called upon to do. How would God view him if he helped take a life? On the war's sixth day, last Tuesday, it was Johnson who was killed, becoming the first naval casualty in Iraq. His 26th birthday would have been tomorrow, his wedding anniversary in two weeks. At 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Cherice Johnson was awakened by knocks on the door of their military housing. Seeing the chaplain and the officer through the peephole, she understood why they had come. The information was sketchy--Johnson apparently had died when shrapnel from a grenade struck his head, she was told. The military emissaries did not say exactly where he had been. Nor did they explain ``if it was an accident on our behalf or in combat,'' said his wife, 24, who had fallen in love with him when she was a high school senior and he a college sophomore in Little Rock. He was a young man of many facets: an extrovert with the energy of a child, a passion for basketball, a gift for drawing and singing, a knack for science and calculus. In Little Rock, his mother, Jana Norfleet, said she is trying to draw comfort from a certain symmetry: a son born in the spring and lost in the spring. She said she tried to instill a sense of striving in the youngest of her three children, her only son. ``I pushed him a lot,'' she said. ``We would spend many nights just sitting, studying together. We didn't move until he was finished.'' And even when he was young, she was explicit about her reasons. ``I'm doing this to make you realize there are many kids out there who are going to excel higher,'' she would tell him ``and I want you to be in that group.'' Starting in second grade, he was in classes for gifted and talented students. He graduated from Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School, which selects its students from the entire county. His mother and stepfather still keep on a living room shelf a plaque from his freshman year, when he was listed in Who's Who Among American High School Students. Six-foot-one, he excelled at basketball. ``I think he saw himself as a basketball professional in his dreams,'' his mother said, ``but we kind of swayed him in the other direction. We told him, `That should be your second love. You need to make a living, son'.'' Growing up, he had loved the cats, dogs, gerbils and fish in his family's house, and he was fascinated in biology classes by dissection. Compassion was part of his Christian faith, forged by his stepfather's insistence on attending church every Sunday. He thought of a career that involved medicine. Together with a girlfriend at the time, he enrolled at the University of Central Arkansas, commuting the 45 minutes north to Conway, Ark. He hoped to enter classes that would lead him into physical therapy, but they were full, and he pursued pre-engineering classes for two years before he left. ``He went into the Navy to continue his education, to have it paid for by Uncle Sam,'' said his mother, who was uneasy about his choice but told him she would support him. ``He had wanted to strive for bigger and better things and travel, and he just came upon the Navy and decided that would be the starting point for what he wanted to do,'' his wife, Cherice, said. After basic training, he trained as a hospital corpsman at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., then was assigned to a clinic at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot that is part of the Naval Medical Center, San Diego. He had an affinity for the work. He gave physicals to potential recruits, helped to treat the sick and, at times, provided counseling. He and Cherice formed a wide circle of friends, and he developed an attachment to the men he thought of as brothers in a surrogate, West Coast family. Last June, he extended his five-year enlistment by a year. Late in the year, as the prospect of war grew, he was among fewer than half-dozen of the clinic co-workers he knew who volunteered for the Middle East, Cherice Johnson said. He did not ask his mother for her opinion before deciding. If he had, she would have told him not to go, ``because that's what mothers say,'' Norfleet said. ``I'm selfish. I'm going to tell you that right here and now. That's my baby. But he didn't ask me. He's a man. She told him, once again, that she supported his choice, but her feelings slipped out. ``Don't you think you could find a tent like on the `M*A*S*H' series, a tent to treat the wounded back behind? she asked. He replied, she recalled, that ``they were his brothers, and he wanted to be there with them and for them.'' His final conversation with his mother went on for two hours, on a cell phone as he was about to be deployed from California. He last called his wife on a refueling stop in Spain. The last letter to his mother arrived just over two weeks ago from Kuwait. ``By the time you receive this letter, I will have gone to war,'' he wrote. ``If I don't make it back don't be sad for me. Be happy for me and praise God, because I've gone to heaven to be with grandma.'' ``The reality of war draws you closer to God,'' the medic wrote. ``It lets you know how valuable life really is.''

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, I am pleased to be here for the second continuing day of the Senate's tribute to the troops. I compliment my colleague from Texas. I thank her for being here this morning. We talked about how important it is for the entire Senate to come and talk frequently about our troops so they do know we are solidly behind them and making sure they know our thoughts and prayers are with them. I yield time now to the Senator from Nebraska, Mr. Nelson.

Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, I now yield a portion of our time to the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Lautenberg.

Mrs. LINCOLN

Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, I am truly pleased and honored to be here today for the second continuing day of the Senate's tribute to the troops. I want to say to my good colleague from Oregon, Senator Wyden, that the purpose really of us being here today and the time we are trying as a body to take is to recognize and to speak out to his constituents in Oregon; and it is not just his thoughts and prayers that go out to those families but all of our prayers. When it comes to our troops and the tribute we pay to these men and women who serve us, serve this great Nation, we act as one body. We come together with collective thoughts and prayers for each and every one of these service men and women. Regarding the two Oregonians whose lives were lost and the two who are missing, each of us feels what Senator Wyden does. We want to express that as a body. I think it is so important at this time in our country's history that we as a body are not divided, that we are here as individuals to say our thoughts and prayers are collective for the men and women who have put their lives on hold here, left their families, and gone to a foreign land to defend our freedom and our security against the tyranny of this individual who has the unbelievable capabilities of weapons of mass destruction. So I am pleased the Senator from Oregon was able to join us, and I hope his constituents understand they have the entire body's thoughts and prayers with them. I want to expand on that a little bit. I come to this body a little bit differently than many of the other Senators. I don't have a long list of elected positions that I have held, and in terms of the time I have been here, it is probably shorter than a good many. I really come as a farmer's daughter and, I guess more recently, as a mother. I thought this morning, as I put my twin boys who are in the first grade on the school bus, sending them off to school, having sat at the breakfast table and made sure they had a good breakfast--one of my boys is in a school play and we were practicing his lines--when I put them on that bus this morning, I thought about the other mothers in the country whose sons and daughters are in a faraway land, who they cannot communicate with; all they can do is look up in the sky and realize that the same moon, and the same sun, and the same stars are shining above their precious children today in a foreign land where their lives are in danger. I just lifted up my own prayer of thankfulness that I live in this great country, where people want to be a part of other people's lives, where men and women are willing to give of themselves to defend the things we believe in: freedom, fairness, hard work, community, and helping each other. Yesterday, I paid tribute to the troops from Arkansas, from all across our great State--so many of whom were from small communities, almost every community in our State represented. Those proud men and women, measuring well over 2,000, are now over there in that conflict. Today, I want to talk about how each of us can honor all of the individuals who are there serving us right now. As I said earlier, not having served in the military myself, and not having a longstanding history of elected positions, I look back to my own background, and I remember the stories my mother told me. She remembered every detail. She had gone to the movies, and when her mother picked her up from the movies, she told her that World War II had begun and that her big brother would be shipping out in the next couple of days. She remembered everything: She remembered the movie, she remembered the clothes she was wearing, she remembered the thoughts in her mind. She thought, what is it that I can do to make a contribution and honor these individuals who are going overseas to defend me, and who I am in this great country that I belong to? She thought about that. She was immediately introduced to rations and victory gardens and making sure that there were plenty of bandages for the Red Cross. We must all look at and never underestimate the ways we can honor those individuals. I think one of the most important ways we can honor these men and women who have sacrificed and are giving so much on our behalf is to look at ourselves as a body. As we stood here this morning and said the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, which always makes me proud, to be indivisible, to come together as one body when it comes to our troops-- we are going to have our differences. We always have and we always will. But I think it is so important in this time of paying tribute to our armed services, the forces that are out there to defend our freedoms, that we act in a nonpartisan and indivisible way. I was really saddened today when I picked up the paper and, in what has become a very common manner, there was a sense of making fun about some of the priorities that many of us Democrats had in this recent budget debate. Budgets are all about priorities, and in our household, I run our budget. We sometimes have to cut our spending to make sure we have enough money for college education and other priorities in our household budget. I had an amendment on the budget which I thought was very important. When the men and women who serve in our Reserves and National Guard are activated, they have health care at that point, but prior to that point, they do not have health care. I think it is equally as important to honor them not just when they are serving but when they are at home preparing and willing to serve. I do not think it is comical in terms of a Democratic ``spend-o- meter.'' It is my priority that these men and women are important enough to me that I am willing to ask some to delay a tax cut so we can provide that kind of health care to their families and to our men and women serving when they are willing and preparing to serve us in the armed services. In these continuing debates--we certainly come to the floor to talk about the men and women from our States who serve us in the armed services, who have put their lives in harm's way, to talk about their families at home who are heartbroken, who are anxious, who are in thoughtful prayer--I hope we will also remember in this body as we debate these priorities--whether it is a budget, tax cuts, or any other issue--that we also remember what they fight for: Our ability in this country to have the freedom to disagree but to disagree with respect. My priorities in that budget were for the service men and women who serve, and I will continue to put them as a priority because when I put my son on that bus this morning, I thought about the rest of those mothers across this country. I thought about those men and women serving us who left family members behind who maybe did not have health care, and I think it is critical. Whether or not we disagree, we certainly respect the differences of opinions that we may have in this body and, for the sake of those men and women who have put their lives in harm's way, that we will not be frivolous with our comments or comical in the priorities each of us may have, even though there is a difference. I thank the Chair.