Mary Landrieu

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I know of no further amendments to be offered. I believe we are ready for third reading of the bill.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we are ready to vote on this amendment. The Senator from Illinois perhaps has some additional time, but if there are no other speakers, if the Senator from Illinois wants to call for the yeas and nays, we probably can have this vote.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we have no further debate.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator from Illinois.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for Kevin Avery of my staff to be given floor privileges.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator. I appreciate those remarks. Frank and I are blessed. As adoptive parents, we can't believe that we are so blessed to have an opportunity to take children into our home. People think you are doing them a great favor, but actually they do a great favor by just being the beautiful children that they are. As the Senator said, I am an advocate because I have seen the benefit of not only adoptive children but as an adoptive family. I have seen the benefits of birth families and birth mothers who have made such a selfless decision. Given all of the desires expressed, and the needs of the parties, the least our government can do is to invest some money and some time to put in structure and accountability so these matches can be made. Our whole society benefits. I am proud that this is in this bill. I hope this bill will be the beginning of new investments in the District public school system, particularly giving more choices for parents in the District for charter schools, for magnet schools, and for more public school choice, by helping to return ownership of the schools to the communities and to the parents, by breaking down some of the systematic barriers that fight against excellence and greatness, which keeps us thinking that mediocrity is what we strive for when that is not the case. We strive for excellence. We strive for greatness in our schools. We have to keep pushing forward, thinking in different ways and helping us stabilize the middle class as it grows in the District, both black and white and people of all races. We cannot stabilize the middle class without an excellent school system. I want to work with members of local government to help do that. I reserve the remainder of my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes, of course.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we will be open for amendments under the time agreement in just a few moments. I thought I would add a couple of closing remarks. We may have amendments presented tonight. We are anticipating probably those amendments will be presented in the morning. I wanted, for the record, to also thank not only my distinguished colleague from Ohio and ranking member but also the other members of our committee for their fine work. I thank the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Dick Durbin, the Senator from Texas, Mrs. Hutchison, and the Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Reed, for their work and dedication to helping us bring this bill to the floor, working on all these issues in great detail, conducting meetings, conducting phone conversations, conferences, meeting with House Members to resolve many of these issues and to work with the local officials in such a respectful, progressive, and forward-looking way. I also thank my colleague and counterpart in the House, Congressman Knollenberg from Michigan, for his fine work as a chair on the House side, and also the Congressman from Philadelphia, Mr. Fattah, for his work on these important issues. I want to mention a couple of important projects. Senator DeWine mentioned a few. I see some other Senators are coming to the floor-- Senator Sessions and others--but I would like to take a moment to mention a few other projects that are in this bill. One is an investment of a half-million dollars that I think will help us begin to build up for the city--and with the partnership of the Federal Government and with the city government and related agencies and, most important, with the families of the District--a partnership to help us build and develop, over time, hopefully some of the finest recreation sports fields and facilities in the Nation. As Senator DeWine said, as a parent of eight children--I am a parent of two and actually am a soccer mom on weekends here in the District, and in Louisiana to some extent also--I am visiting and spending a lot of time with soccer moms and soccer dads. I played a little baseball in my day. I know, growing up in New Orleans, how important sports and athletics are to the development of our family. I watched how important that was for many other families. I think here in the District there are some wonderful opportunities of which we are not fully taking advantage. I shared this with the mayor. He expressed not only his commitment but enthusiasm. The city council and its members and leaders in the city, expressed their enthusiasm for working with Congress in partnership to help create better opportunities for our children in every neighborhood and every area of the city to participate in organized sports and to have opportunities for soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and basketball courts. In this particular bill we have a study to be conducted for possible locations--close, in this region-- that could help us build the kind of facilities that are now available in jurisdictions just right outside of the District, in Maryland and Virginia. Bond issues have been passed. Great corporate partnerships have come together. So if you live in Maryland or live in Virginia, the chances are on the weekend you can get to a soccer field that is actually well maintained and well manicured and kids and parents can have so much fun and enjoy the beautiful scenery and great opportunity that sports bring to teach children lessons and bring families together. Unfortunately, we do not have those kinds of extensive facilities in the District. It is one of my goals to work with the many different organizations in the city, and the elected officials, to help build a foundation. In addition, I understand the District itself would like to host the Olympics in 2012, which is a wonderful goal. It is going to be quite a challenge. Building these sports facilities is not only great for improving the quality of life and helping give children and families the kind of experience we all hope for in the communities in which we grow up, but it is also a great economic opportunity for the District to position itself as a potential contender for the Olympics. So I am very keen and very passionate and committed to this particular area. In addition, I thank Senator DeWine for his work with Children's Hospital and for the investments he has made in creating the children and family court system. Let me take a minute on that particular subject. We hope every child in this country and the world will stay in the family to which they were born. I think it is what God intended. It is what we hope for and work for every day. But there are facts, tragedies, and circumstances where children cannot stay with their biological parents. There are some tragedies that have occurred in this District and in places around the Nation. We are hoping to build a bipartisan consensus in this country, and I might say in the world, on the simple notion that all children deserve a family to call their own. Children should not be raised in hospitals, left to grow up alone on the streets, to comfort themselves when they are sick, to put themselves in bed, and get themselves up in the morning at ages at which you could not believe they could be capable of doing that. It is incumbent upon our Government, working with the private sector and nonprofit organizations, to make sure every child has a family. We want them to stay with their biological families if at all possible; but if not, to not leave them alone or in a situation that is not permanent, and move them to adoption. So investing in a new court system, starting up a family court, is a great step toward that goal of helping children to be connected to at least one loving, responsible adult. I am proud to say that adoptions in the District are up, but we still have too many children in foster care. I can't give this speech nearly as well as the mayor himself, who came out of foster care at the age of 4. He was basically declared to be mentally unfit at that age. His emotional capacity was questioned. His adoptive mother, Ms. Williams, gave a beautiful testimony. She said she looked at this child and could see something very special in his eyes and decided to take him into her family. She raised him, and the rest is history. He went on to a fine university and is now mayor of this great city. I hope people can see hope in the mayor of this city, in him and his adoptive family, and what can happen when the system works well--to connect the child who needed a mother and father, a mother and father who wanted a child, and to see how this community and Nation will benefit when that system works. This bill is committed to laying a foundation to help this system work for the District and hopefully serve as a model for the Nation.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, as has been agreed to, I am pleased to bring the District of Columbia appropriations bill to the floor with my colleague and partner, the Senator from Ohio, Mr. DeWine. We will speak this afternoon as we bring this bill to the floor and then entertain any amendments which should be limited on this bill. I say it is fine work the two of us have done with our committee members to try to reconcile some of the differences in this bill and to bring forward a bill we can support in a bipartisan fashion. I thank the Senator from Ohio for his great work and his diligence, particularly in some very important areas in this legislation that we lay out. Also, I recognize the staff who has been very helpful to us in preparing this important piece of legislation. They will be with us in the Chamber today. Mr. President, this total budget before us for the District of Columbia, our Nation's Capital, and one of the premier cities, if not the premier city in our Nation, is $7.1 billion. I think it is important to note for the purposes of what we are going to be discussing this afternoon that $5.3 billion of this money is raised through the local tax base, local levies, local ordinances governing tax collections and fees paid by the residents of the District and those tourists and citizens who visit the District. We also have within this budget $1.7 billion in Federal grants, which includes all of the Federal programs that all of our cities and States participate in so readily, not the least of which is Medicaid, which is a very familiar program to many. In addition, the area that we have concentrated our work on mostly is the $400 million included in this District of Columbia appropriations budget for criminal justice, prisons, and courts; under a recent statute the Federal Government has taken on the responsibility to hopefully do a better job--a system that was in some disarray with some unfortunate mismanagement, and to relieve the District of that financial responsibility, helping them to get back on good financial footing. So that is the general outline of the moneys in this bill. I will come back to them in some detail. In opening, let me say--and I know Senator DeWine shares the same hope with me--we can lead in a new way with this bill, in a new time, a momentous time for our country and for the Nation's Capital since the unwarranted and unexpected and tragic attacks of September 11. Some of the terms that have been used to describe the relationships between Congress and the District have been old ones such as ``partisanship'' and ``bickering,'' a battleground for competing ideologies that might have been better fought on a broader theater or on a broader battleground. Sometimes I think our District has been treated as a national guinea pig instead of the Nation's Capital. I hope, as we bring the bill to the floor this year, we can use new words to describe this partnership--instead of ``partisanship,'' ``partnership''--words such as ``trust'' and ``respect,'' respect for local decisionmaking, which I think is so important in this relationship with the District. Instead of a battleground, I hope we can find common ground to build on some of the principles and issues that are important not only to the District but to our country. I would like to think this bill represents a thrust toward economic vitality. The ranking member and I believe very strongly in job creation in the District, along with the Mayor and City Council, obviously, and we want to do what we can to make sure there is vitality. In addition, words such as accountability, transparency, excellence in management, excellence in the education system, and investments in strengthening the health care system of the District are issues about which our committee feels very strongly. I commend the work of the Mayor and the City Council, and so many others, particularly the Chief Financial Officer and others on the financial front who have helped to lead the District to a sound financial footing. It is important to note that this is the first budget we will be considering as a Congress in 5 years that is post-control board. The control board that was in effect and helped bring the District back to relatively strong financial health, even in a time of crisis and challenge, came to an end on September 30. This is the first budget to come forward without the control board being in place. As the control board has moved off the scene, what has moved front and center are the authorities and responsibilities of the Chief Financial Officer. So many of the charges to keep the District in good financial stead will now lie with the Chief Financial Officer, and it is my hope that throughout this year and the coming years we will be able to strengthen that office and the systems within the DC government to make sure it is clear who is accountable for what and that there is transparency and accountability, because without strong finances the District will never be able to reach all of its many worthy goals, some of which I have just outlined. I wanted to note that before I get into my prepared remarks. The second principle that is embedded in this mark that I present is the elimination of some of the time-worn restrictions on the ways the District can spend some of its local funding. In our States, we all have cities and jurisdictions that want to be and should be autonomous in terms of the ordinances they propose and on what they choose to spend their money. Too often, in my opinion, Congress has stepped in to try to micromanage, supersede, mandate, and attach too many strings to the way in which this city wanted to spend its own resources. Again, it is its own tax dollars spent by its own elected board. I have tried in appropriate ways to eliminate in this mark many of those riders or measures that were placed not because of the issues to which they pertain, but because of the principle. I want this mark to suggest that we are entering an era, hopefully, of mutual respect and partnership, trust and respect of local decisionmaking. I would expect that for the city of New Orleans, for the city of Baton Rouge, and for the city of Lafayette. Senator DeWine, I am sure, expects that for the city of Cleveland. We should have no less of a level of appreciation for the District of Columbia. The third principle of this bill is a significant investment in child welfare. This has been one of the mayor's top priorities. It has been, I believe, the citizens' top priority as, unfortunately, 200 children in the last 10 years have lost their lives at the hands of people who supposedly love them, supposedly were caring for them. They have been murdered, tortured, and abused because the system in DC is not strong enough. This bill represents an extremely significant investment in that respect. Counting what the city is putting up and what the Senator from Ohio and I have determined is an appropriate investment reaches almost $40 million in new money to create and to strengthen the court system creating a new family court that will be complementary to this effort in hopes to correct this terrible situation and reverse this trend. I can state this is one of the best provisions in this bill. In addition, particularly due to 9-11, the $16 million for security investments for the District is to help the District establish better management and security plans, and I will go into that in more detail. The other principles are investments in education, the environment, and children's health. Investments are an important part of any growth plan for a city or for a State. We can tighten budgets, we can have fiscal discipline, we can try to keep those budgets in balance, but the smart money goes to those cities that are making long-term strategic investments. We can never overinvest if we spend it wisely in education or the physical environment, such as bringing back the Anacostia River, the Navy Yard, which is an important developmental opportunity for the District, and in children's health, which Senator DeWine has led. To restate, the tragic events of September 11 have reminded us all of the safety, security, and financial strength of the District, our Nation's Capital, and how it serves as a vital symbol of our national resolve. This bill, as I said, serves the needs of the District's police, fire, public health, and emergency management services--the people who are on the front lines today, who were on the front lines on September 11, and who will be there when we have another attack. We hope we do not have another attack, but we are prepared for one and getting better prepared every day. Given the strategic importance of maintaining stability in the Nation's Capital, the Appropriations Committee decided to maintain the original funding for the IMF conference that was canceled. Instead of canceling the funding, we reoriented that funding to be used for these important security needs. In the days after the attack, local officials and the media began to detail some of the shortfalls in the present emergency protocol. Specifically, articles in the Washington Post highlighted the need for coordination and improvement. I thank Senator Mikulski and Senator Sarbanes for their input on this subject, as well as Delegate Norton, who is in the Chamber, along with the Mayor and others as we worked out a security plan that is robust, a security plan that has redundancy built into it, a security plan that will work for the residents of the District, for the thousands of people from the region who visit daily to work and enjoy the sites, and the millions of people who travel throughout the year to celebrate in the Nation's Capital. I expect Mayor Williams and his staff to give attention to this real and immediate concern. I thank them for the work they are doing, and I look forward to working with them diligently in the months ahead. Fiscal year 2002 will be an important year for the District. Overall, the District has moved from a negative accumulated fund balance of $518 million in fiscal year 1996 to a positive fund balance of $464 million. That is almost a swing of $1 billion in 5 years. That took a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication. There was a lot of anguish and a lot of disagreement about how that should happen, but it did happen. The District is in a positive financial posture due to a lot of hard work, and we want to keep it that way with appropriate mechanisms, even with the Control Board moving out of its area of responsibility. The city met all the requirements under the 1005 Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act and is no longer under the general supervision of the Control Board. The Chief Financial Officer will begin to fulfill many of the financial management functions previously performed by the board. The termination of several significant receiverships, particularly in child welfare, indicates a stronger, more effective, local government. With each success, the District gains more independence. This bill maintains Congress' commitment to ensure that District officials have the tools they need to continue to serve DC and those who visit the capital. While this is often a challenging role for the Federal Government to make, it is an important one. It is imperative Congress work with the city so the foundation of resources are in place to ensure this independence will result in success. To accomplish this, the Appropriations Committee has worked diligently to forge a partnership for progress between Congress and DC local elected leaders. Determined to be a supportive partner of the city's agenda, we have done our best to construct a Federal budget that supplements but not supplants the city's efforts to fulfill its promise to enrich the lives of the citizens in the District. The bill before us is now evidence the committee shares the city's vision for quality education, a clean environment, improved child and family welfare, and continued financial strength. In each of these key areas, we have worked with local officials to determine the best course of action for all concerned. Over the past 10 years, the District of Columbia has struggled to review and reform its child welfare system. I am certain my colleague from Ohio will speak in more detail about this because he has been such an extraordinary leader in this particular area. First, under the guidance of a court-appointed receiver and now under the direction of a newly-appointed Child and Family Services Agency, this committee would be hard-pressed to find a greater priority than the well-being and safety of the children of the District. For this reason, as I said earlier, we have included a significant increase in the funding of a family court reform effort, the Child and Family Services Agency, and Court-Appointed Special Advocates, CASA. The ranking member and I believe strongly that investing more money without reforms, without accountability, without principles such as one family/one judge, without principles such as people should choose to do this job because they want to, not because they are forced to, that lawyers should take these cases because they want to, not because they are forced to, and the principles that volunteers in courtrooms looking out for the interests of the child will make a difference in that child's life and in that family's life, are crucial to the underpinnings of the reform. I will be pleased to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both Houses of Congress toward that end. In addition, we have made note of the progress made by many DC public schools. In particular, the committee has included language and funding intended to serve as a catalyst for the ever-growing DC charter school movement. However, I am concerned about the current financial and management challenges of the schools and hope to work with the city on this front more specifically. Let me say as an aside, before I get into my conclusion about schools, we all represent hundreds and thousands of schools in our own particular States and each one of us in our own way has worked with our mayors and our superintendents and our Governors to help reform and uplift and to build a stronger school system. In my mind, never has it been more important than in the post-September 11 attacks to think about what our school systems mean to our democracy. Let me be as clear as I can possibly be on this subject. Pretty good is just not good enough. Schools that do all right is just not going to cut it or make it happen in the world that we face today. In these challenges, where it is important for us to understand our country well, to understand other countries well, other cultures and other religions, it is important for people to be well educated and well trained and well read and well versed on history and art and philosophy. It is important for our children to have the finest education. Why? So they can become the kind of citizens that not only can govern in this Nation but literally lead the world. The world looks to America for leadership. They do not look necessarily to the elected officials of our country for leadership, although we are the voice of the people, but as the people of the United States that must lead. People can lead better when they are well educated and well prepared, well read about the actual character and conditions of this world. I hope we really appreciate how important it is for not only the schools in the District of Columbia to work at a higher and more excellent level but how important it is for all of our schools. I am willing to take on some battles there because we have to think outside of the box, in a new way. We are going to do that in a bipartisan way, in an appropriate way, to help strengthen the schools for every child in this District, in our Nation's Capital, which is host to people from many places around the world, to provide a quality education, a wonderful education, not with just a pretty good teacher, not with a good teacher but with a great teacher, a well-motivated and well- trained teacher, to give children the kind of education in partnership with their parents, to provide that education for the children to create better schools, a stronger community, a stronger Nation and citizens that can truly lead the world in the decades ahead. Finally, I am proud to say this bill includes funding to support education, public health, economic development projects. As the mayor and I have both said, a community with clean parks, beautiful waterways and safe streets is one in which people are proud to live. So if the schools are excellent, they serve as an economic catalyst for businesses that want to stay in the District and grow. When there are clean parks and places where children can play, when the waterways are clean enough to recreate and to swim in, and when the streets are safe, that is what makes a great community all the more great, and that is what our hope is for this District and for all of the cities that we represent in this great Nation. I want to say particularly how impressed I am with the work of Mayor Williams, who has worked tirelessly on this and many other fronts. This is home for the Federal Government and its employees. It seems only right that we should do our fair share to see the District remains the beautiful place it is. Amendments may be offered to this bill to restrict the District's ability to use its own locally collected tax revenues to operate specific programs hundreds of cities across this country operate. I hope those amendments will not be offered, but if they are, we will debate them with a limited time and move on so we can get this important bill passed and signed by the President. In many parts of the country, some of these issues are controversial. Throughout the entire country, the issue of the direction of local funds is something that is universally, I believe, supported. Let me conclude by thanking my ranking member and by saying I am proud to offer this mark, which puts the District in financial balance with a financial surplus, that outlines some of the strong principles of education, investments in health and in the environment which will make this city even stronger. With the emphasis on security and investments we have made, I think this mark will serve this city well for the next many years and in the decades to come. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Thank you, Mr. President.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I will speak, unfortunately, against the amendment of the Senator from New Hampshire.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I will take the time from my side.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Chair and the ranking member for their fine work on this appropriations bill that is so important to our schools, to our health care infrastructure throughout the Nation at this important time, as well as to our labor community and the work they have done. I send this amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I have been asked to yield a few minutes before I get into the essence of this amendment. I am happy to do so.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I find myself in an unusual and awkward position because I normally come to the floor to support the amendments of the Senator from New Hampshire and to support his great efforts and his leadership in reforming education. He truly has been a clarion voice to lead us in many of the ways we really need to go in this country. His commitment is really exemplary. I find myself in an awkward position to oppose the amendment he has offered on a couple of very valid grounds. One is, while in a bipartisan way we certainly have supported, along with the President, targeting our dollars more carefully so that the Federal dollars actually bolster the reform efforts at the State level by helping Governors and mayors and school board members who are on the front lines who are trying to reform education, we have attempted this year for the first time --which is a pretty extraordinary victory we are about to achieve--to target more of our Federal dollars to reach those Governors, to reach those school boards, and to reach those mayors who are struggling to rebuild their systems. So the Senator is correct when he speaks about the need to target. Senator Harkin and Senator Specter have done a magnificent job on this great piece of legislation to accomplish many of these new goals. The underlying bill indeed does that. For the first time, we will be laying down $1 billion through the targeting grants to help close the gap between those counties, and parishes in Louisiana, that have greater capacity to fund their schools and those counties and parishes that have less capacity. That is clearly one role where there is virtually no disagreement that the Federal Government should fill: to be actively engaged in leveling the playing field between the richer and the poorer districts. That is the American way. That is what the underlying bill does. I understand Senator Gregg is saying: Let's not put any money in school construction; let's take that money and add it to targeting. I would normally be supportive of that because many of us have been leading the fight for targeting. But as important as it is for teachers to be given new tools, and for us to support these reform efforts, children cannot learn without the right physical facilities. It is very important. They do not need palaces such as this one or Taj Mahals, but they do need warmth in the wintertime. They do need to have fresh air in hot summers. They do need to be able to walk in safety in schools and not have inadequate windows or light fixtures or be in buildings that make it impossible to learn. They do need to have electrical systems in their buildings so they can install their computers and get on line and have other high-tech tools of learning. I do not have to explain to the Presiding Officer or to many Members in this Chamber how deficient our schools are. So let's not move money from one very important program, which is school construction, to targeting. That is why I will have to oppose the amendment of the Senator from New Hampshire. We can do the school construction funding so that we can help build our schools and give our children the kind of physical facilities they need to meet these new goals and standards. This is not the time to stop job creation in America. Let me repeat, this is not the time to stop job creation in America. Millions of people are out of work because of the September 11 attacks and subsequent attacks because of their effect on our economy. One billion dollars under Senator Harkin's and Senator Specter's amendment--of which there is the attempt to move--will put 24,000 people who live in Georgia, in Louisiana, in Iowa, and in New Hampshire to work. One billion dollars spent on school construction will employ 24,000 people. Believe me, there are people in all of our States who want the Federal Government to spend money on public investments. What better place could we be spending money than building schools for our future, giving our children a chance for a first-class quality education? Finally, I will say this: I know the Republican leadership has not been excited about school construction. They have fought it every step of the way. There have been some Republicans who have supported it. The Republican leadership is against the idea of the Federal Government getting involved with school construction. And that argument has merit. I am not saying it does not. But in light of September 11, I would hope the arguments on the other side would weaken because we need to be putting Americans to work. These are good construction jobs. And they do two things. They give a man or a woman a job, so he or she can bring home a pay check to feed their family and pay their mortgage. By doing that, you are also investing in our children by building schools so they can compete in the challenging world which we all now face. Those are the arguments. Again, I hate to oppose the Senator, but I am opposing this amendment on those grounds. And I ask other Members to join with me in that opposition and to support the mark of the chairman and the ranking member. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. It is entitled ``Pretty Good.'' It reads as follows: Pretty Good (By Charles Osgood) There once was a pretty good student, Who sat in a pretty good class And was taught by a pretty good teacher, Who always let pretty good pass. He wasn't terrific at reading, He wasn't a whiz-bang at math; But for him education was leading Straight down a pretty good path. He didn't find school too exciting, But he wanted to do pretty well, And he did have some trouble with writing And nobody taught him to spell. When doing arithmetic problems Pretty good was regarded as fine. Five plus five needn't always add up to be ten, A pretty good answer was nine. The pretty good class that he sat in Was part of a pretty good school, And the student was not an exception, On the contrary, he was the rule. The pretty good school that he went to Was in a pretty good town. And nobody seemed to notice He could not tell a verb from a noun. The pretty good student in fact was Part of a pretty good mob. And the first time he knew what he lacked was When he looked for a pretty good job. It was then, when he sought a position, He discovered that life could be tough, And he soon had a sneaky suspicion Pretty good might not be good enough. The pretty good town in our story Was part of a pretty good state, Which had pretty good aspirations, And prayed for a pretty good fate. There once was a pretty good nation, Pretty proud of the greatness it had, Which learned much too late If you want to be great, Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad. We have some pretty good schools. We have some pretty good students. We have some pretty good teachers. We have to have great schools, great students, and great teachers. We need them in Mississippi. We need them in Louisiana. We need them in Connecticut. We need them in Pennsylvania. Our country depends on educated, well-skilled citizens to lift this democracy, to help lift this world, and to become a beacon of light. We can do that. It is not that complicated. It just takes some principles, some determination and some funding levels, partnerships with local governments, to make it happen. The underlying bill, with this amendment, and the work that has been done in the authorizing committee will get us from pretty good to great. That is what our Nation needs at this time. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, to go into some more detail about the importance to Louisiana, Louisiana is slated to receive approximately $212 million in title I funding. Under this amendment, that will be $21 million more than we received last year. We spend about $600 per title I student. This amount will increase by almost a third for the students in Louisiana, increasing it by $200. Caddo Parish may receive a 21 percent increase in title I funding. East Baton Rouge, the capital parish, will receive a 16 percent increase. Orleans parish could receive a 24 percent increase. These are several examples of how beneficial this will be to the parishes in Louisiana, and I am sure to counties in Mississippi as well as to the State of Delaware. This is an amendment that will help all school districts by trying to target more of the resources to those school districts that have high concentrations of poor students and limited opportunities to raise their own funds locally. That, clearly, is a role the Federal Government should play. I will submit for the Record a more comprehensive list of what it will mean to all of the States, as well as the State of Louisiana, in terms of percentages of increase. Again, this is a beginning. I know Senator Kennedy will join me in saying that $1 billion is not really enough. But given the other pulls on our budget, it is what we can do this year. I hope to work with the Presiding Officer and the chairman, the Senator from Massachusetts, and others to see that this money is increased next year so that it will be beneficial to all of our States. I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the list to which I referred:

Ms. LANDRIEU. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I realize my time has expired. Since no one is here to speak against the amendment, would there be any objection to my taking an additional few minutes?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the remarks of my colleague from Mississippi and my neighbor to the south right across the line because we share a lot of common challenges in Mississippi and Louisiana. The Senator spoke about the need for this amendment and called the attention of the Nation to the fact that about 60 percent of the students in Mississippi--that would be about the same for Louisiana, probably about 65 percent--live below the poverty line or are so close to it that opportunities are hard to come by. I think it is important for us to step back and take a moment to recognize that great inequity. As I refer to my notes, I am reminded that in order for students to be eligible for title I, as the distinguished Senator from Mississippi knows, it means a family of four can make no more than $22,000. It is hard for an individual to live on $22,000, much less a family, whether they live in rural Mississippi or rural Louisiana or right here in Washington, DC. But there are many working families who have incomes at that level, and all they are asking is for their children to get a better education, so that instead of bringing in that $22,000, they could bring in $45,000 or $65,000 or $100,000, and not only help themselves and their families, and the children they will ultimately have, but help this Nation to fulfill its economic promise. One of the great effects of this amendment, as the Presiding Officer knows, because you yourself have been supportive and outspoken and effective in your advocacy as a former Governor of Delaware and now as a Senator who speaks so directly about this issue, is it helps us to begin. It is only a modest beginning to help solve a great inequity in this Nation. It is the inequity that the Senator from Mississippi brought up and the inequity that I want to spend a few minutes speaking about again this morning. The fact is that among these 50 States there are some States and some communities and some districts and some counties and some parishes that simply do not have the resources to make the grade. They have the will. They have the skill. They have the desire. And the children, because of the way God created them, have the brains. They are not sitting down on the job. These are children who want to learn. These are parents who work very hard, who do not have flexible schedules, who wake up early in the morning before the Sun comes up, who stay at work until the Sun goes down. These are the children title I tries to reach: first-generation immigrants, families that have been in this country for many years struggling to get ahead, families that work hard and save their hard- earned dollars. These are the children title I tries to reach. Yet when we do not provide the funds through the targeted grants, we often miss the opportunity to meet these families halfway. I think we have an obligation, on the Federal level, because of the disparity, because of the great inequity, to do what we can to try to level this playing field. Let me be the first to say, although I am a sponsor of this amendment, this amendment does not correct that inequity. We would need many billions of dollars more to correct that inequity. But this is a beginning. That is why it is so important for us to vote overwhelmingly for this particular amendment. It is a beginning. It will be the first time the targeted grant formula has ever been funded in the Senate. It will build on the work of the House. It will support what the President wants us to do. As we push our schools to greater heights, as we expect higher standards from our students, from our educators, and from our parents, then we can help them by giving this additional funding, so that even schools in the places that are poor, such as Louisiana and Mississippi, and places in Delaware that may be disadvantaged, have a chance to meet these higher standards. That is what this amendment does. I am proud of the bipartisan support we have received. And I know it is tough because there are some States where funding maybe goes up slightly and there are some States where funding decreases. I do not see my partner, Senator Lieberman, in this Chamber. He has been working for hours, for days, for months on this amendment. Senator Lieberman is a cosponsor. Clearly, as the Senator from Mississippi said, Mississippi will benefit. He has more poor children in Mississippi per capita than any State in the Union. My State is a close second. So to Mississippi and Louisiana, this is serious business. This is about whether these children, in homes where parents are working, doing their best, have a chance or not. That is what this amendment means. It is literally a life-and-death opportunity. There are some States that are wealthier, Connecticut being one of them. Senator Lieberman supports this amendment. I tell you, he is a great inspirational leader to me. Just to give an example of how great his leadership has been, Connecticut will not benefit as much as Louisiana, but Senator Lieberman knows, as do other Senators from wealthier States, that it is ultimately in the interest of all the businesspeople and families in Connecticut if every child in this great Nation has a chance for an excellent education. The benefits will come back to Connecticut in indirect ways, if not directly. That is the kind of long-term leadership, the kind of vision that we need more of in the Senate. So while in some ways it is easier for Senator Cochran and I to stand in this Chamber and argue for it because our State will be a tremendous beneficiary, I recognize the sponsorship of Senators from States that do not immediately do better, but in the long run they know this is best for their State and for the Nation; to them goes tremendous credit. Let me take a moment to speak about the underlying bill. Many of us, including the Presiding Officer, have been working for many months to try to put forward some of the new principles that are in this particular piece of legislation. The appropriations bill that we are discussing today helps to frame or give substance to the authorization bill that is in committee. There are some principles that I think are important, and I will address those for a moment. First of all, the underlying bill recognizes the importance of teachers. We always say teachers are important, but sometimes we do not put our money where our mouths are. The underlying bill gives $1 billion more to help improve the quality of teachers. We know that a good teacher instructs but a great teacher inspires. We need to have more great teachers; we need to help them become great teachers, taking their great motivation and their enthusiasm, and helping them build their skills to inspire our children in every school, in every district, to become the very best citizens they can be for our Nation and to become the very best leaders in the world. This challenging time certainly calls on us to make those investments. That is one of the initiatives in this bill. In addition, it has been important to work on this particular bill at this time because I think there is a sense that while we have a very good public school system, it works pretty well most of the time, and we can be proud of the work we do, I think the Landrieu-Cochran amendment, and the work that is being done in the underlying bill, to push forward on some of these points, demonstrates there is a sense of urgency to move our schools to a higher level, expecting performance and not concentrating on process, but expecting results, accountability, improvements, and working with the local people in a partnership to do that. Why is that important? It has always been important. It has always been important, but I think since September 11 it has become even more obvious why it is important to have excellence in our schools and to give every child, regardless of whether they come from a wealthy district in Connecticut or the cotton fields of Mississippi and Louisiana, the chance to succeed, to carry the flag that we all share as Americans, and to do the very best we can to hold up that flag when our Nation calls upon us to do so. I have been very impressed with the work of the Business Roundtable on education. They, along with many corporate executives, have supported some of the educational reform efforts that are being made in this Congress. I commend them for their focus. They issued a poem, written by one of their members, that I will ask to print in the Record. I want to share it with my colleagues this morning because it so clarifies where we are today in America and why the underlying bill is important, and why the targeting amendment is important. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 5 additional minutes.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, we only have 1 minute. I yield 30 seconds to my colleague from Connecticut and 30 seconds to my colleague from Utah.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I am happy to get back to the subject. I was of course happy to yield some time for the Senators from Pennsylvania, for those fine remarks to honor a person who certainly deserved that recognition. I am offering this amendment today on this underlying bill in behalf of myself, Senator Cochran, the Senator from Mississippi, Senator DeWine from Ohio, Senator Lieberman, Senator Hatch, Senator Bennett, and Senator Ensign--all who have had a pivotal role and a leadership role in helping to bring this particular amendment to the floor at this time. So because of the change in time this morning, and so many Senators are here wanting to speak on this amendment, let me yield at this time to my distinguished colleague from Ohio for his remarks on this amendment. Then I will speak following the Senator from Ohio.