Mary Landrieu

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Washington for her leadership in managing this bill. We have had many important amendments discussed, and, of course, the Transportation and HUD appropriations bill is one of the most important of all of our appropriations bills. It covers all of our transportation infrastructure, including mass-transit and housing initiatives and others. I could not let this opportunity go by without offering an amendment that is one important piece of an overall puzzle for recovery in my State. It is my sincere hope that we can pass this amendment today, but if not, I am willing to work with the distinguished chair and ranking member to incorporate this provision in the appropriate legislative vehicle. We are still struggling, despite the wonderful amounts of money from volunteers particularly and time from volunteers and appropriations that have come from Congress to help rebuild homes, we are still struggling from a catastrophic flood in south Louisiana, primarily in southeast Louisiana in the city of New Orleans, that region, St. Bernard Parish, Plaquemines Parish, Orleans Parish, parts of Jefferson, and others. There was also tremendous flooding in the southwest part of the State caused by Hurricane Rita, which came 4 weeks after Hurricane Katrina. While the country is used to dealing with hurricanes and we have all had large ones and small ones and ferocious ones and minor ones to deal with, we have never, at least in the last 100 years or so, dealt with the devastation following the levee breaks and flooding and pumping systems that collapsed that should have worked. I tell people, if they can just imagine what the Netherlands would look like if the little guy with his finger in the dike--if it didn't work one day and the dike broke and the Netherlands basically went underwater. It is a country, and it is much smaller than the United States. In fact, it would fit inside of Louisiana. But, nonetheless, it is a very powerful economic engine in Europe. To have that dike and levee system fail and the catastrophe that would result in large measure is kind of what happened in New Orleans and the region. You can imagine the difficulty of rebuilding 200,000-plus residences, some individual, single-family, owner-occupied homes, some homes that were rented, nonsubsidized, and then the rental subsidized sections of the city, public housing, affordable housing, workforce development housing--there are many words to describe these types of housing. I come to say that rebuilding this housing stock is quite a challenge for our delegation. Congress can provide vast amounts of tax credits, grants, loans, and waivers but these benefits will not spur recovery if we cannot get people back into their homes. That is where recovery must start and end. For example, in Louisiana alone we had over 20,000 businesses destroyed. Business cannot open their doors if their workers have nowhere to live. Louisiana also had 875 schools destroyed. Again, teachers cannot come back to school and teach our children if they do not have a roof over their heads. So a fundamental piece of recovery in the gulf coast is to allow disaster victims to return home and rebuild. The amendment I offer today for consideration--I thank Senator Murray for being such an outstanding leader on previous appropriations bills to try to push this issue for additional funding and help--is specifically to complement or parallel our efforts for helping homeowners get back. There is a bill, S. 1668, the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act, which is coming through the Banking Committee which is going to help our public housing residents and workforce development housing. This is because we lost thousands of units of public subsidized housing. I am pleased to work alongside Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd to hopefully secure a hearing on this important bill in the coming weeks and to work with my colleagues to usher it out of committee as soon as possible. In regards to this bill, I should note that the recovery of public housing is one area that has not received much national press attention, even though prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Housing Authority of New Orleans--HANO operated over 7,000 public housing units, with about 5,100 units occupied. These residents, just like renters and homeowners, have a right to return home. We must provide them with the means and opportunity to do so. S. 1668, which I have mentioned would provide the means and opportunity necessary to make this happen. I will not go into great detail on this legislation today but given its importance to my state, and the entire gulf coast, let me summarize the main provisions in this bill. First, this bill sets out a process to allow New Orleans area public housing residents to return home. Next, it strikes a good balance between the redevelopment priorities of HANO, developers, and public housing residents to responsibly rebuild better affordable housing units in New Orleans. Lastly, this bill creates home ownership opportunities, spurs community development, and gives a hand up to community nonprofits. As evidence of the merits of this bill and the balanced approach we have established, I will ask that a copy of an August 27, 2007, Washington Post editorial be printed in the Record. This editorial clearly outlines the need for this legislation, how it will allow responsible mixed-income development, and how if it is passed today, responsible developers could begin construction tomorrow if they meet requirements in our bill. They are not burdensome requirements, instead they ask developers to consult with residents, ensure that when they tear down public housing units that they are providing for sufficient replacement units of affordable housing. Given that our State has over 5,000 displaced public housing residents, thousands of people who were on the waiting list pre-Katrina to get into public housing, and a further 12,000 homeless individuals, I do not feel this is unreasonable to require that affordable housing stock be replaced, not lost, during this housing crisis. I note that according to a June 2007 report by PolicyLink, a national research institute, rents have increased as much as 40 to 200 percent since the storms, leaving few apartments affordable to families making less than the area median income. That is why the amendment I am discussing, and S. 1668 are so important. The amendment I offer today is included as an authorization in S. 1668 and I would urge my Democratic and Republican colleagues to support this bill as I would ask their consideration of this amendment today. This amendment is an amendment which will help close the loophole for the elderly, the disabled, and the homeless. In particular, there are a group of people who are too frail or fragile to live on their own, yet they do not belong in a hospital. We have many people--I am sure in the State of the Presiding Officer, in Pennsylvania, and I was in Philadelphia last night, a magnificent city--I am sure you can think of many places in Philadelphia where there are homes or apartments for disabled elderly, for adults who are not older but they are disabled through an accident or injury. They don't belong in a hospital. They can't be left alone. But it is sort of group housing, many times run by Catholic Charities. Sometimes they are run by other nonprofit organizations. We need that kind of housing desperately to help us get back, to take care of the most fragile people in our city who are still today without shelter. It would help those most at-risk, and those who really need the help most in my state. You can imagine the challenge to take care of this group under normal circumstances. But here we are, dealing with a catastrophe, trying to provide housing for thousands of people now returning to the city in a fragile situation. It is our obligation as a city, as a State, and as a nation to help. So that is basically what my amendment does. I note that the Senate has already passed this amendment. It already passed this body as part of H.R. 4939, the emergency supplemental which was enacted last summer. However, much to my chagrin, and to those working on this issue in my State, this important provision was taken out by the House in final negotiations on the supplemental. So the Senate has already in some measure passed this particular proposal. I am offering and talking about it today to ask the Senate to consider this 3,000 units of supportive housing for the elderly, the disabled, and the homeless--the most fragile of our population. This is not necessarily the working population. These people can't work. They are too old to work, they are too weak to work, or they are too sick. But it is, of course, our obligation to help provide them with permanent and safe places to live. We all have a percentage of the population. No matter where you live, in the Northwest or in the Northeast or in the South, a percentage of the population has been overlooked. With this in mind, we have to fight to get our homeowners back in their houses who are workers and business owners and professionals and upwardly mobile middle-class individuals. We have to fight hard to get our renters back. Some renters are upwardly mobile and middle class, some very wealthy. They just choose not to own a home. There is another group of renters that are in subsidized rentals because they have to be because they are working at minimum-wage jobs. There is a whole other group of people who are neither homeowners, young and vibrant, in the middle class and younger, although they might have been at one time. They are not in regular rental units. They are the fragile population. We have virtually provided no additional funding for them. That is what my amendment attempts to do. People are living with relatives. People are making ends meet. This amendment would provide $70 million for 3,000 units of permanent supportive housing to assist these at-risk residents. As I mentioned, I was able to put this in the Senate-passed version of the emergency supplemental but, unfortunately, it was taken out. Therefore, I am here to show my support for this proposal, to respectfully ask the chairman and ranking member who are handling this appropriations legislation to consider this important proposal again today. If it can't be adopted by this body today, I would like to ask them whether they would be supportive of including this in the next supplemental that comes before the Senate. I see the chairman of the committee on the floor. I would appreciate knowing if Senator Murray is supportive of this amendment.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator from Washington. With that commitment and the opportunity to speak on this important issue today--I know there are other amendments that will be considered--I am willing to withdraw my amendment at this time and will offer it again at an appropriate time.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent to have the previously mentioned article printed in the Record.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for yielding because of time constraints. I came to the floor to thank Senator Murray for her extraordinary work on the bridge replacement amendment and for the colleagues--60-- who joined her in supporting this amendment. It is important to all of our States, but particularly for Louisiana, that is struggling, like so many of our other States are, to find funding for critical infrastructure. We, of course, 2 years ago, had the collapse of an infrastructure, of our levees. We have great impacts on many of our highways. Of course, the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota has caused us all to refocus on the importance of this issue. Mr. President, I will submit my longer statement for the Record, but we have over 4,000 bridges in the State of Louisiana alone, that is including overpasses over highways. Nearly 30 percent of the total are categorized as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. In fact, one of the bridges I have outlined in my statement is the Red River Bridge that was built in 1936. It alone will cost $100 million. This U.S. 71/165 bridge is in a very small parish in Louisiana. We are straddling the great Mississippi River, and it causes a great deal of strain on some of our poorer parishes that need to find ways to cross but have very little capacity. The backlog of bridge replacement needs for bridges that are either structurally or functionally deficient and have a sufficiency rating of less than 50 in Louisiana is $2.1 billion. The I-35 West Bridge in Minneapolis was given a sufficiency rating of 50 in 2005. A total of almost 4,000 bridges, or nearly 30 percent, of the total bridges in Louisiana are categorized as either ``structurally deficient'' or ``functionally obsolete.'' If all bridges categorized as ``structurally deficient'' or ``functionally obsolete'' in Louisiana were to be replaced, the total projected cost would be more than $10.5 billion today, not fully including other costs such as rights of way, engineering or utilities. Louisiana is not unlike most other states with a backlog of transportation projects. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development alone has a total transportation backlog of over $14 billion. The funding in this amendment will help address a critical piece of that backlog by providing additional funds for bridges in the State. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting Senator Murray and this critical amendment for our Nation's bridge infrastructure. Specific examples in Louisiana are: The I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles, built in 1952, is now functionally obsolete, with additional capacity needed in the corridor and estimated replacement cost several times the current annual funding of the entire bridge replacement program. This bridge is nationally significant because it is part of Interstate 10, a ``Corridor of the Future'' as designated by the Department of Transportation. The Red River Bridge at Fort Buhlow, US 71/165, built in 1936, is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete, with an estimated replacement cost of greater than $100 million, a significant portion of our current annual funding of the entire bridge replacement program. I thank Senator Murray, and my colleagues for yielding before we go on to the next debate, which is on trucks and trucking, and I am happy to cosponsor their amendment as well. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from the Department of Transportation.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to Peter A. Mayer Advertising, Inc., which on Friday celebrated its 40th anniversary. This firm represents that Louisiana really is ``open for business'' following the devastating 2005 storms, Katrina and Rita. Not only is this agency profitable and strong, but part of its business practice is to contribute to our great city and region in the aftermath of the storms that completely destroyed 18,000 businesses in Louisiana alone. When Katrina hit, the Agency evacuated to Baton Rouge and Monroe and provided housing and accommodations for employees and their families. Soon the firm was up and running again in New Orleans and promoting the city's recovery. For instance, it was the Peter A. Mayer agency that developed the ``Come fall in love all over again'' television and print tourism campaign. Tourism is our State's second largest industry, and the agency's help getting the word out that we are ready for tourists was invaluable. Not only did the agency help the city and region, but it looked inward to create a support network for its own employees whose common thread was recovering from Katrina. The agency created a Web site, LivesConnected.com, where employees, though oral history, told their Katrina stories. Peter Mayer founded the firm in 1967 with just three employees and $200,000 in billing. It has become one of the largest advertising, public relations and marketing agencies in the South and an economic anchor in New Orleans, with a staff of 125 and annual billings of more than $75 million. The news media has recognized the agency's famed corporate culture, with New Orleans City Business and Gambit Weekly each naming it one of the top places to work in New Orleans. In celebration of its 40th anniversary and in an effort to help beautify our city, the agency last week began planting 40 trees in City Park to replace those lost in Katrina. On Friday evening, the agency celebrated its history with all past and present employees at the Audubon Tea Room. I thank the Senate for recognizing this outstanding agency for its commitment to excellence and public service.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask my friend, the senior Senator from Massachusetts, for clarification of language in the conference report. On page 60, the report refers to the definition of an independent student for purposes of determining financial aid eligibility. The current law was amended to allow students who are orphans, in foster care or wards of the court or who were orphans, in foster care or wards of the court any time after the age of 13 to be considered independent students. I would like to ask the Senator to clarify that individuals who were orphans, in foster care or wards of the court when they were 13 years of age or older but no longer orphans in foster care or wards of the court when applying for college will still be considered independent students.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I appreciate that clarification. I believe we should modify the language to be more clear on this point. I believe it should read ``(B) is an orphan, in foster care, or a ward of the court, or was an orphan, in foster care, or a ward of the court at any time when the individual was 13 years of age or older;''.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak about an important issue that will determine the success of long-term recovery efforts in the gulf coast. As you know gulf coast was devastated in 2005 by two of the most powerful storms to ever hit the U.S. in recorded history Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We also experienced the unprecedented disaster of having a major metropolitan city, the city of New Orleans, under up to 20 feet of water for 2 weeks when there were 28 separate levee failures which flooded 12,000 acres, or 80 percent of New Orleans following Katrina. I strongly believe that the Congress can provide vast amounts of tax credits, grants, loans, and waivers but all these benefits will not spur recovery if we cannot get people back into their homes. That is where recovery must start and end. In Louisiana alone, for example, we had over 20,000 businesses destroyed. However, businesses cannot open their doors if their workers have nowhere to live. Louisiana also had 875 schools destroyed. Again, teachers cannot come back to school and teach our children if they do not have a roof over their heads. So a fundamental piece of recovery in the gulf coast is to allow disaster victims to return home and rebuild. Today, I am proud to introduce legislation which is extremely important to the recovery in the State of Louisiana. This is because, over the past few months, we have learned that the Road Home is facing a shortfall of billions of dollars due to various reasons. There is certainly more than enough blame to go around for the mistakes in the creation and management of the Road Home program, and fixing them will be a shared responsibility. But a significant initial flaw can be found in the inadequate and unfairly distributed funding which represented all the administration was willing to commit towards Louisiana recovery. At this stage, the funding shortfall threatens to stall recovery in Louisiana and leave homeowners without the vital funds they need to rebuild their homes. To address this important issue, the bill we introduce today includes an authorization of funds so that if the State of Louisiana puts up $1 billion towards the Road Home shortfall, additional funds necessary to shore up the program would be available. I strongly believe this bill will serve as a hand up, not a hand out. The State of Louisiana shares a financial obligation to address the shortfall and this bill would hold it accountable, but with the State meeting their obligation the Federal Government also would step in to help. In closing, let me reiterate that this bill addresses one of the most fundamental needs following a disaster: the need to return home. Whether residents live in million dollar mansions, rental housing, or public housing they all share a desire to return to their communities and, in particular, their homes. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation as now these disaster victims are counting on the Congress for action. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak about an important issue that will determine the success of long-term recovery efforts in the gulf coast. As you know gulf coast was devastated in 2005 by two of the most powerful storms to ever hit the U.S. in recorded history Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We also experienced the unprecedented disaster of having a major metropolitan city, the city of New Orleans, under up to 20 feet of water for 2 weeks when there were 28 separate levee failures which flooded 12,000 acres, or 80 percent of New Orleans following Katrina. I strongly believe that the Congress can provide vast amounts of tax credits, grants, loans, and waivers but all these benefits will not spur recovery if we cannot get people back into their homes. That is where recovery must start and end. In Louisiana alone, for example, we had over 20,000 businesses destroyed. However, businesses cannot open their doors if their workers have nowhere to live. Louisiana also had 875 schools destroyed. Again, teachers cannot come back to school and teach our children if they do not have a roof over their heads. So a fundamental piece of recovery in the gulf coast is to allow disaster victims to return home and rebuild. Today, I am proud to introduce legislation which is extremely important to the recovery in the State of Louisiana. This is because, over the past few months, we have learned that the Road Home is facing a shortfall of billions of dollars due to various reasons. There is certainly more than enough blame to go around for the mistakes in the creation and management of the Road Home program, and fixing them will be a shared responsibility. But a significant initial flaw can be found in the inadequate and unfairly distributed funding which represented all the administration was willing to commit towards Louisiana recovery. At this stage, the funding shortfall threatens to stall recovery in Louisiana and leave homeowners without the vital funds they need to rebuild their homes. To address this important issue, the bill we introduce today includes an authorization of funds so that if the State of Louisiana puts up $1 billion towards the Road Home shortfall, additional funds necessary to shore up the program would be available. I strongly believe this bill will serve as a hand up, not a hand out. The State of Louisiana shares a financial obligation to address the shortfall and this bill would hold it accountable, but with the State meeting their obligation the Federal Government also would step in to help. In closing, let me reiterate that this bill addresses one of the most fundamental needs following a disaster: the need to return home. Whether residents live in million dollar mansions, rental housing, or public housing they all share a desire to return to their communities and, in particular, their homes. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation as now these disaster victims are counting on the Congress for action. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Home Ownership Made Easier Act, or the HOME Act. This bill will revitalize our Nation's rural communities by making it easier to become a homeowner and to provide opportunities to refinance high interest and subprime loans. Our country has provided many excellent opportunities over the years to individuals living in rural areas to become a homeowner. One of these programs is what is commonly referred to as the 502 program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This program administers guaranteed loans to low-income families that are backed by the U.S. Government. Families must be able to show that they are without adequate housing and not exceed certain income limits. Currently, these loans last 30 years and do not require a down payment, however the applicant must be able to afford mortgage payments, including taxes, and insurance. I applaud the success of the 502 program. In Louisiana alone, the program has already administered 1,212 loans for 2007 and nationwide, the program has administered 27,643 loans. While the program does cost the taxpayer approximately $42 million a year, it administers over $3 billion in loans a year. Let me repeat that again, for $42 million a year, our Government is able to provide $3 billion in loans a year to low-income families to become homeowners. The risk extremely low. In 2006, the 502 program has a foreclosure rate of 1.36 percent. Again, I applaud the success of our Government to provide this much-needed help to rural Americans. Some might ask why should the Federal Government help low-income families become homeowners? The answer is simple. Homeownership provides financial advantages to owners and to their communities. Individuals who own homes have an investment, of those that own homes, on average, one-half of the equity in their homes is one-half of their net worth. Homeowners enjoy tax benefits and they also enjoy financial stability if they are locked into a permanent interest rate. Communities also benefit, those that have a high percentage of homeownership see increased involvement with the community and with the local schools. Also, maybe most importantly, homeownership by low-income households is linked to a child's educational advancement and future success. My HOME Act will build upon the success of the 502 program and update the program to reflect current conditions. In some instances, this law hasn't been updated in nearly 30 years. The HOME Act will do five things. First, it will increase the qualifying income limits for families and set out a three-tiered level of income standard instead of the current eight tiered standard. The first tier will be for families that have one to four individuals, the second tier is established for families of 5 to 8 persons and the third tier is for families larger than eight. The second change will affect the qualifying population limit. Currently, the population limit is tied to communities of 10,000 or less in an areas contained within a standard metropolitan statistical area, MSA, and communities less than 20,000 if they are not contained within a MSA. My HOME Act will expand the qualifying population limit to encompass rural communities of 40,000 or less. HOME Act legislation will maintain the guaranteed fee that an applicant is required to pay at 2 percent, instead of raising the fee to 3 percent. This is to keep costs low for the borrower. It will also reduce the redtape involved by allowing an applicant that qualifies for a 502 loan to receive that loan regardless of whether or not the applicant can qualify for another Federal Government housing loan. Finally, my bill will provide opportunities for individuals inside and outside the 502 program to refinance their loans. These opportunities include refinancing to pay for a first or second purchase mortgage, for repairs to structural deficiencies, to pay for closing costs, and allow a borrower to consolidate debts up to the greater of $10,000 or 10 percent. The 502 program is an excellent program that has helped many individuals and families afford to purchase a clean, affordable home that increases their quality of life. I want to expand this program and allow more opportunities for low-income rural Americans to become homeowners. This is a good bill and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make this bill a reality.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, today I rise to discuss the All Students Can Achieve Act that I am introducing today with Senators Lieberman and Coleman. I was proud to have been a part of developing the No Child Left Behind legislation 5 years ago, which made strides in holding schools accountable and drawing attention to the students who had fallen between the cracks. Senators Lieberman, Coleman, and I have come together to build upon the successes of No Child Left Behind, to improve it, and to help our Nation's schools take the next step to help all of our students to achieve and to succeed. Louisiana has made great progress in its standards and accountability, now ranking number one in the Nation. However, of the more than 650,000 students in Louisiana, many are not meeting academic achievement goals. We need to help all of our students meet and exceed achievement expectations. The All Students Can Achieve Act focuses on the achievements of all students. Recognizing that quality data systems are crucial to measuring the progress of student achievement, we have included a requirement to establish data systems and provided funding authorizations and incentives to support the development of such systems. In order to ensure that all students are achieving, states must create comprehensive data systems that track students' academic progress and other factors that affect their success. One of the most important factors in school and student achievement is teachers. The quality of teachers should be determined by their effect on students' learning, not just their qualifications. All students should have effective teachers. Thus, these data systems must link student achievement data to teachers, allowing states to measure teacher effectiveness. In addition, this bill requires the equitable distribution of effective teachers and non-federal funding. States should be held accountable for student achievement. However, students do not progress at the same pace. Louisiana has recognized this and has incorporated growth labels in its accountability system. Louisiana looks at the level of growth achieved by a school and each school's success in meeting its growth targets. The All Students Can Achieve Act allows states to use growth models in calculating adequate yearly progress. It allows states the flexibility to measure student academic growth, rather than strictly looking at test scores. We must have high expectations for all students. To ensure that all elementary though secondary school students, regardless of where they live, are prepared for success in college or the workplace, states must set high expectations for all students. Academic standards must be designed to prepare students to succeed and assessments must be effective tools to measure students' progress toward meeting these standards. In addition, we need to continue to properly measure the achievement of all students. Thus, this bill will close current loopholes in the law that allow states to avoid counting students or skew achievement data. The All Students Can Achieve Act aims to close the achievement gap. States need to focus resources on closing the achievement gap. This includes directing their attention to comprehensive interventions where more than 50% of students are not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or focused interventions where less than 50% of students are not making AYP. The All Students Can Achieve Act increases the amount of funding authorized for these interventions and focuses support where the need is greatest. Another important measure of academic achievement is high school graduation rates, which should be tracked and reported for all groups of students. High school graduation rates are an important measure of academic achievement, but they must be calculated consistently and accurately. Like other assessments, these rates should be tracked and reported for all groups of students. Nearly 1.2 million students did not graduate from American high schools in 2006; the lost lifetime earnings in America for that class of dropouts alone totals more than $309 billion. The All Students Can Achieve Act also increases focus on and support for high need students. For example, we have also included foster children and youth. There are over 800,000 foster children and youth. They face many of the same challenges as homeless children and youth. They go through numerous changes in where they live and go to school. They lack stability and permanency. Thus, we have added them to the McKinney-Vento Act, in order to ensure that they do not fall through the cracks. We hope that by giving them access to the services and protections of McKinney-Vento, their schools will become a safe and permanent place in their lives. Public education is important to Senators Lieberman, Coleman, and me. We want our Nation's children to be prepared to compete and succeed once they graduate. We need to improve our schools and hold them accountable for the achievement of all students. Though there has been much discussion about No Child Left Behind Act, there has been little action toward the reauthorization of this law. We have heard from our constituents about the parts of NCLB that work and the parts that do not work for our students at home. Through a nationwide public process, the Aspen Institute has generated concrete, actionable recommendations that will improve schools for the Nation's children. We wanted to take this opportunity to help begin the process of improving this law. We have come together to take a bipartisan approach to improving the education of all students. We have pulled together the proposals that we think will best serve our students and improve public education in America. We want people to actively discuss our proposal. We hope that people will support what we have done or build upon it.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Home Ownership Made Easier Act, or the HOME Act. This bill will revitalize our Nation's rural communities by making it easier to become a homeowner and to provide opportunities to refinance high interest and subprime loans. Our country has provided many excellent opportunities over the years to individuals living in rural areas to become a homeowner. One of these programs is what is commonly referred to as the 502 program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This program administers guaranteed loans to low-income families that are backed by the U.S. Government. Families must be able to show that they are without adequate housing and not exceed certain income limits. Currently, these loans last 30 years and do not require a down payment, however the applicant must be able to afford mortgage payments, including taxes, and insurance. I applaud the success of the 502 program. In Louisiana alone, the program has already administered 1,212 loans for 2007 and nationwide, the program has administered 27,643 loans. While the program does cost the taxpayer approximately $42 million a year, it administers over $3 billion in loans a year. Let me repeat that again, for $42 million a year, our Government is able to provide $3 billion in loans a year to low-income families to become homeowners. The risk extremely low. In 2006, the 502 program has a foreclosure rate of 1.36 percent. Again, I applaud the success of our Government to provide this much-needed help to rural Americans. Some might ask why should the Federal Government help low-income families become homeowners? The answer is simple. Homeownership provides financial advantages to owners and to their communities. Individuals who own homes have an investment, of those that own homes, on average, one-half of the equity in their homes is one-half of their net worth. Homeowners enjoy tax benefits and they also enjoy financial stability if they are locked into a permanent interest rate. Communities also benefit, those that have a high percentage of homeownership see increased involvement with the community and with the local schools. Also, maybe most importantly, homeownership by low-income households is linked to a child's educational advancement and future success. My HOME Act will build upon the success of the 502 program and update the program to reflect current conditions. In some instances, this law hasn't been updated in nearly 30 years. The HOME Act will do five things. First, it will increase the qualifying income limits for families and set out a three-tiered level of income standard instead of the current eight tiered standard. The first tier will be for families that have one to four individuals, the second tier is established for families of 5 to 8 persons and the third tier is for families larger than eight. The second change will affect the qualifying population limit. Currently, the population limit is tied to communities of 10,000 or less in an areas contained within a standard metropolitan statistical area, MSA, and communities less than 20,000 if they are not contained within a MSA. My HOME Act will expand the qualifying population limit to encompass rural communities of 40,000 or less. HOME Act legislation will maintain the guaranteed fee that an applicant is required to pay at 2 percent, instead of raising the fee to 3 percent. This is to keep costs low for the borrower. It will also reduce the redtape involved by allowing an applicant that qualifies for a 502 loan to receive that loan regardless of whether or not the applicant can qualify for another Federal Government housing loan. Finally, my bill will provide opportunities for individuals inside and outside the 502 program to refinance their loans. These opportunities include refinancing to pay for a first or second purchase mortgage, for repairs to structural deficiencies, to pay for closing costs, and allow a borrower to consolidate debts up to the greater of $10,000 or 10 percent. The 502 program is an excellent program that has helped many individuals and families afford to purchase a clean, affordable home that increases their quality of life. I want to expand this program and allow more opportunities for low-income rural Americans to become homeowners. This is a good bill and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make this bill a reality.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, today I rise to discuss the All Students Can Achieve Act that I am introducing today with Senators Lieberman and Coleman. I was proud to have been a part of developing the No Child Left Behind legislation 5 years ago, which made strides in holding schools accountable and drawing attention to the students who had fallen between the cracks. Senators Lieberman, Coleman, and I have come together to build upon the successes of No Child Left Behind, to improve it, and to help our Nation's schools take the next step to help all of our students to achieve and to succeed. Louisiana has made great progress in its standards and accountability, now ranking number one in the Nation. However, of the more than 650,000 students in Louisiana, many are not meeting academic achievement goals. We need to help all of our students meet and exceed achievement expectations. The All Students Can Achieve Act focuses on the achievements of all students. Recognizing that quality data systems are crucial to measuring the progress of student achievement, we have included a requirement to establish data systems and provided funding authorizations and incentives to support the development of such systems. In order to ensure that all students are achieving, states must create comprehensive data systems that track students' academic progress and other factors that affect their success. One of the most important factors in school and student achievement is teachers. The quality of teachers should be determined by their effect on students' learning, not just their qualifications. All students should have effective teachers. Thus, these data systems must link student achievement data to teachers, allowing states to measure teacher effectiveness. In addition, this bill requires the equitable distribution of effective teachers and non-federal funding. States should be held accountable for student achievement. However, students do not progress at the same pace. Louisiana has recognized this and has incorporated growth labels in its accountability system. Louisiana looks at the level of growth achieved by a school and each school's success in meeting its growth targets. The All Students Can Achieve Act allows states to use growth models in calculating adequate yearly progress. It allows states the flexibility to measure student academic growth, rather than strictly looking at test scores. We must have high expectations for all students. To ensure that all elementary though secondary school students, regardless of where they live, are prepared for success in college or the workplace, states must set high expectations for all students. Academic standards must be designed to prepare students to succeed and assessments must be effective tools to measure students' progress toward meeting these standards. In addition, we need to continue to properly measure the achievement of all students. Thus, this bill will close current loopholes in the law that allow states to avoid counting students or skew achievement data. The All Students Can Achieve Act aims to close the achievement gap. States need to focus resources on closing the achievement gap. This includes directing their attention to comprehensive interventions where more than 50% of students are not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or focused interventions where less than 50% of students are not making AYP. The All Students Can Achieve Act increases the amount of funding authorized for these interventions and focuses support where the need is greatest. Another important measure of academic achievement is high school graduation rates, which should be tracked and reported for all groups of students. High school graduation rates are an important measure of academic achievement, but they must be calculated consistently and accurately. Like other assessments, these rates should be tracked and reported for all groups of students. Nearly 1.2 million students did not graduate from American high schools in 2006; the lost lifetime earnings in America for that class of dropouts alone totals more than $309 billion. The All Students Can Achieve Act also increases focus on and support for high need students. For example, we have also included foster children and youth. There are over 800,000 foster children and youth. They face many of the same challenges as homeless children and youth. They go through numerous changes in where they live and go to school. They lack stability and permanency. Thus, we have added them to the McKinney-Vento Act, in order to ensure that they do not fall through the cracks. We hope that by giving them access to the services and protections of McKinney-Vento, their schools will become a safe and permanent place in their lives. Public education is important to Senators Lieberman, Coleman, and me. We want our Nation's children to be prepared to compete and succeed once they graduate. We need to improve our schools and hold them accountable for the achievement of all students. Though there has been much discussion about No Child Left Behind Act, there has been little action toward the reauthorization of this law. We have heard from our constituents about the parts of NCLB that work and the parts that do not work for our students at home. Through a nationwide public process, the Aspen Institute has generated concrete, actionable recommendations that will improve schools for the Nation's children. We wanted to take this opportunity to help begin the process of improving this law. We have come together to take a bipartisan approach to improving the education of all students. We have pulled together the proposals that we think will best serve our students and improve public education in America. We want people to actively discuss our proposal. We hope that people will support what we have done or build upon it.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, as we all know, there was a tremendous amount of criticism of the Federal Government's response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. Things are better now, and the region is slowly recovering. But as I stand here tonight, we are exactly 63 days into the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. Two years ago, the U.S. Small Business Administration's, SBA, response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was too slow and lacking in urgency, threatening the very survival of impacted businesses and homeowners. This failure occurred because SBA lacked the necessary tools and resources to respond swiftly and effectively to a large-scale disaster. Thanks in part to the efforts of Administrator Steven Preston, much has been done to improve the SBA disaster assistance program in the past year. However, many in Congress remain concerned that despite these efforts, the agency lacks the additional legislative authority and resources required to respond to a large-scale disaster. This is because we must be sure that if we have another disaster, the Federal Government's response will be better this time around. Disaster response agencies have to be better organized, more efficient, and more responsive in order to avoid the problems, the delays, mismanagement, and the seeming incompetence that occurred in 2005. I am proud that legislation, of which I am an original cosponsor, is passing the Senate tonight. This is because I strongly believe that we cannot afford to adjourn for August, the heart of hurricane season, without moving this important legislation forward--legislation which would immediately provide SBA with the resources it needs to effectively respond to natural or manmade disasters. In particular, this legislation improves the disaster response of one agency that had a great deal of problems last year, the SBA. This bill, S. 163, the Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act, makes major improvements to the SBA's disaster response and provides them with essential tools to ensure that they are more efficient and better prepared for future disasters--big and small. I should also note that this bill is a result of intensive bipartisan work over 2 years and was introduced shortly before the 109th Congress adjourned as S. 4097 by Senator Snowe. Unfortunately, there was no action on that bill, so it was reintroduced in January 2007, at the start of the 110th Congress, by Senator Kerry as S. 163. On May 7, 2007, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship unanimously reported out S. 163 and sent it to the full Senate for consideration. This bipartisan legislation features comprehensive SBA reforms as outlined in the attached summary. S. 163 also has the full support of the SBA, who assisted the committee in drafting many of the provisions as well as the support of our Louisiana business community. As mentioned above, although this bill was reported out of committee 86 days ago, S. 163 was blocked from passage, most recently on July 17 due to a Republican objection. The committee worked closely with the Republican Senator to address his specific concerns, but unfortunately after this hold was lifted last night, it appeared as if there would be an additional hold from the Republican side. Given the urgent nature of this legislation, in addition to the fact that the House of Representatives passed companion legislation on April 18, 2007, my colleagues and I were pleased that we could work out these remaining issues and pass this bill tonight because stalling this legislation would send the wrong signal to America's small businesses. As mentioned previously, this bill is reflective of my priorities as well as those from Senators Kerry and Snowe, respectively chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee. For my part, I have heard loudly and clearly from our impacted businesses that SBA reforms should be implemented as soon as possible. In fact, as of August 29, 2007, these reforms will be 2 years overdue. That is why I have worked tirelessly alongside my colleagues on the Small Business Committee to secure passage of this legislation. Like my colleagues, I have led when appropriate, pushed back when pushed, and negotiated when needed so that S. 163 could pass the Senate before we adjourn for August recess. This legislation offers new tools to enhance SBA's disaster assistance programs. In every disaster, the SBA disaster loan program is a lifeline for businesses and homeowners who want to rebuild their lives after a catastrophe. When Katrina hit, our businesses and homeowners had to wait months for loan approvals. I do not know how many businesses we lost because help did not come in time. Because of the scale of this disaster, what these businesses needed was immediate, short-term assistance to hold them over until SBA was ready to process the tens of thousands of loan applications it received. That is why this legislation provides the SBA Administrator with the ability to set up an expedited disaster assistance business loan program to make short-term, low-interest loans to keep them afloat. These loans will allow businesses to make payroll, begin making repairs, and address other immediate needs while they are awaiting insurance payouts or regular SBA disaster loans. However, I realize that every disaster is different and could range from a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina or 9/11, to an ice storm or drought. This legislation gives the SBA additional options and flexibility in the kinds of relief they can offer a community. When a tornado destroys 20 businesses in a small town in the Midwest, SBA can get the regular disaster program up and running fairly quickly. You may not need short- term loans in this instance. But if you know that SBA's resources would be overwhelmed by a storm--just as they were initially with Katrina-- these expedited business loans would be very helpful. This legislation also would direct SBA to study ways to expedite disaster loans for those businesses in a disaster area that have a good, solid track record with the SBA or can provide vital recovery efforts. We had many businesses in the gulf coast that had paid off previous SBA loans, were major sources of employment in their communities, but had to wait months for decisions on their SBA disaster loan applications. I do not want to get rid of the SBA's current practice of reviewing applications on a first-come first-served basis, but there should be some mechanism in place for major disasters to get expedited loans out the door to specific businesses that have a positive record with SBA or those who could serve a vital role in the recovery efforts. Expedited loans would jump-start impacted economies, get vital capital out to businesses, and retain essential jobs following future disasters. This bill also makes an important modification to the collateral requirements for disaster loans. The SBA cannot disburse more than $10,000 for an approved loan without showing collateral. This is to limit the loss to the SBA in the event that a loan defaults. However, this disbursement amount has not been increased since 1998 and these days, $10,000 is not enough to get a business up and running. That is why this bill increases this collateral requirement to $14,000 and gives the administrator the ability to increase that amount, in the event of another large-scale disaster. I believe this is a reasonable and fiscally responsible increase, and at the same time gives the administrator flexibility for future disasters which will inevitably occur. As you may know, I pushed to get language in the last hurricane supplemental appropriations bill in June 2006 to require SBA to develop a disaster plan and report to Congress on its contents by July 15, 2006. SBA provided this status report in July, and I am pleased that, due to my request, the agency provided the completed disaster response plan to our committee on June 1, 2007. That said, it is one thing to draft up a plan but it is not worth the time and effort if there is no one to monitor its implementation and update it when needed. For this reason, I included a provision in this bill to require the administrator to designate one agency employee, who would report directly to him/her, to be responsible for this plan. This disaster planning designee would be responsible for the plan, and more importantly, would be accountable to Congress if it fails. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, not only is execution important but also just as important is clear accountability if these best laid plans fail. The Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act will provide essential tools to make the SBA more proactive, flexible, and most important, more efficient during future disasters. Again, I look forward to working with both Senator Snowe and Senator Kerry in the coming weeks to begin discussions with our House colleagues to resolve differences on both the Senate-passed bill and the House-passed bill. The goal of both these bills is to ensure that the SBA has everything it needs to better respond following future disasters, so I am hopeful that we can work out a reasonable agreement. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of a June 29, 2007, letter of support from Administrator Preston, along with a July 31, 2007, letter from Greater New Orleans, Inc. be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my statement.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Will the Senator from Montana yield?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I missed the previous vote because we were in a markup in committee. About six other Members did as well. Could I please be recorded as having voted no? If I were here, I would have voted no on the previous amendment.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I withdraw my request.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, how much time do I have to speak on the amendment? Is there any time allocated on the amendment?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, let me ask the distinguished minority manager of the bill for just 10 minutes to speak on my amendment, and then he can speak on the point of order?

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 minutes on my amendment.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Chair.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Reserving the right to object.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Reserving the right to object, I ask the managers of the bill if there is going to be another set of amendments on which we are going to vote tonight.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Reserving the right to object, are there only two other amendments that are to come up?