Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, first, I commend the managers of the homeland security appropriations bill for doing an excellent job of trying to put together a bill under very difficult circumstances where we have a budget resolution that really does limit our ability, I believe, to make sure we have in place good security for all of our constituents, no matter where they live in this country. Everywhere I travel, people have different concerns, whether it is their seaports, trains, borders, infrastructure that easily could be a target of terror. The managers of this budget have worked hard to put together a package, but today I offer an amendment because I believe everything we are trying to do in this bill to improve homeland security will be undermined if our local communities do not have solid emergency response plans. Let me say that again because it is so important. Everything we are trying to do in this bill to improve homeland security will be undermined if our local communities do not have solid emergency response plans. When a disaster strikes in one of our communities, we know the phone will ring at the desk of some local emergency manager, and when that phone call comes in, if there is not a plan that is ready to go to deal with that emergency, we are in trouble. Even if we are able to provide all of the equipment and training that our first responders need, if there is not an effective plan at the local level to coordinate a disaster response, then we have all failed to protect our citizens. I introduce an amendment to ensure that the emergency planners in virtually every county and every community in America will have the tools they need to lead our response to a terrorist attack or other disaster. My amendment will provide $100 million for emergency management planning grants, and it has broad support. My amendment has been endorsed by the Council of State Governments, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the National Emergency Management Association, and the International Association of Emergency Managers. Those endorsements say a lot. Those endorsements mean our leaders at the city, county, and State levels all recognize the need for this amendment. Those endorsements say the emergency managers who work to protect all of our communities are asking support for this amendment. One of the least talked about but most important parts of our response to a disaster takes place outside of the public view. In every county and major city in this country, there is an emergency response coordinator who works behind the scenes preparing for the worst. They determine what the needs are in our local communities. They develop plans so if there is a tornado or a natural disaster, there is a game plan for everyone to follow. Those plans coordinate the work of many different agencies and organizations and they really are the backbone of our emergency response. In one community, the emergency coordinator might be the fire chief. It might be the sheriff. In another community there might be a dedicated person who handles emergency planning exclusively. No matter what their title is, they perform a very critical job. They make sure we have an effective coordinated plan to prepare for and respond to in an emergency. For decades, they worked hard to prepare for natural disasters, developing plans to respond to tornados, earthquakes, floods, and winter storms. Today, they have a massive new responsibility to deal with. Today, they have to develop plans to respond to manmade disasters and plans to respond to terrorist attacks. They have to come up with strategies for handling scenarios that we would never have imagined just a few years ago. Our local emergency planners have a massive new responsibility, but they do not have the funding to carry it out. This is not an area where we can afford to skimp or to cut corners. If, God forbid, there is a smallpox outbreak somewhere in our country, the phone is going to ring at the desk of the local emergency coordinator. When he or she picks up the phone, either they have a plan to respond to smallpox or they do not. There are no two ways about it. If, Heaven forbid, a dirty bomb goes off somewhere in our country, either there is a game plan to follow on the shelf, tested, ready to go, or there is not. I want to make sure when that phone call comes, we are prepared, wherever we live in this country. Right now, we have a very long way to go. Trust me, my colleagues do not want their emergency planner in their community to have to choose between preparing for a natural disaster or preparing and planning for a terrorist attack. They need to plan for both. My amendment would give them the resources they need to meet these new homeland security threats. Simply put, our communities have to build a brand new capability from scratch and they need Federal help. Turning to the specifics of my amendment, my amendment would provide an additional $100 million to the existing emergency management performance grants. These are the grants that allow our emergency managers to meet the needs in their local communities. I want to note that funding for these grants has been stagnant for about a decade. The underlying bill does provide some funding for these grants, but it is certainly not enough to allow our communities to create this new capability from scratch. In fact, in March of 2002, a survey conducted by the National Emergency Management Association identified a $200 million shortfall for the EMPG Program that has continued to grow. Emergency planning grants have been around for about 10 years, and they are now the backbone of our emergency response system. They are funded on a 50/50 formula. Half the funding comes from our local level and half the funding comes from us at the Federal level. These grants fund the local emergency management offices that build our State and local emergency capability, and they provide the foundation for our first responders. In Washington State, without these grants many of our smaller and rural communities would not have had the resources to develop their emergency response plans. So these grants have been critical in helping our communities prepare over the years. Today, these grants are the best vehicle to meet the new challenges because they are flexible. Emergency management planning grants are flexible, allowing local coordinators, those people on the ground, to use them where they will do the most good for their community. Emergency managers can use these grants for local planning, first responder training, emergency preparedness exercises, personnel, operational activities, equipment, early warning systems, public information education, mutual aid, and other preparedness response and recovery activities. All of these options are available to local people on the ground, local emergency managers under this grant program. Some people may claim we can combine this grant program with others and that dedicated funding does not really matter. But that is not true. If we combine this with other grant programs, we will force emergency planning and coordination to compete with equipment and other important priorities. We should be helping communities meet all of these needs, not pitting one against another so communities come up short. Our local communities need both equipment and planning, and we need to fund both. The emergency management planning grant is the right tool to empower the emergency planners in your community to meet their local needs. Since September 11, we have asked the local emergency managers in every county in America to develop new coordinated plans to respond to terrorist attacks. We have asked them to take on this critical responsibility, but we have not provided the funding they need. My amendment will provide an additional $100 million in flexible grants to meet the needs from coast to coast. If our communities do not have solid emergency response plans, then they are really not prepared for a disaster. That is a price we cannot afford to pay. Our ability to respond to a terrorist attack or other disaster is only as good as the emergency response plans in our local communities. If we buy all the equipment but never develop the plans, we are not safe. If we send our firefighters to training but we never coordinate our response to an attack, we are not safe. We do not want our communities to have to choose between preparing for tornadoes or preparing for a smallpox attack. We are asking them to prepare for everything. They need the funding to do that. This amendment has been endorsed by the Council of State Governments, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the National Emergency Management Association, and the International Association of Emergency Managers. If there is a terrorist attack on our country again, the phone is going to ring at the desk of some local emergency manager. One of two things will happen: Either they will have a solid emergency plan for that disaster, know what to do, know what decisions to make; or they will not and Americans will pay the price. I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment so one day when that desperate phone call comes, the person who answers that phone, wherever they are, will be ready to lead an effective response. Each of us has the power to make sure our communities in our States are ready. I urge all colleagues to support the Murray amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, the amendment before the Senate simply adds $100 million for emergency management planning grants. The President's proposal under homeland security combined these grants with other programs. The Senator from Mississippi, the chairman of the committee, rightfully separated this back out to where it was. Unfortunately, the funding for this has remained static for the last decade. Since September 11, every county, every city across this country has had an additional responsibility in planning not just for a tornado or earthquake or national disaster but to have an emergency plan in case of a terrorist attack--very different planning, very different understanding, very different concerns. It is critical we help our local communities have a plan in place so when a call goes to a desk after a terrorist attack, people have a plan in front of them and know what to do and there is not pandemonium. This amendment simply adds $100 million. By the way, the people across the country in emergency management say they are $200 million short in this area. We simply add $100 million for our planners across this country to be prepared for a terrorist attack.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act, I move to waive the pertinent sections of that Act for the purposes of the pending amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, today I honor one of our most dedicated leaders, effective advocates and passionate activists for America's children: Ms. Yasmina Vinci. Ms. Vinci is retiring after 11 years as the executive director of the Nation's Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, NACCRRA. Ms. Vinci started the Washington, DC office of NACCRRA from her kitchen table with just a telephone and fax machine and built it into a highly respected organization representing more than 860 local and State child care resource and referral agencies. Ms. Vinci is one of our Nation's most tireless advocates for a high- quality early care and education system designed to serve all children. As executive director of NACCRRA, Ms. Vinci has provided vision, leadership and support to community child care resource and referral agencies and has promoted national policies and partnerships committed to the development and learning of all children. Ms. Vinci has worked diligently to promote quality in child care resource and referral services. Prior to joining NACCRRA in 1992, Ms. Vinci was the manager of special projects in the New Jersey Department of Human Services where she managed the Dependent Care Grant, coordinated the development of the New Jersey plan for the implementation of the Child Care and Development Block Grant and supervised a number of research, immunization and Head Start-related projects. For nearly 10 years, Ms. Vinci was the executive director of an inner-city child care center, serving 200 low-income families through a continuum of high quality, comprehensive, and family supportive programs. Ms. Vinci has served on the Boards of the National School Age Care Alliance, the Interfaith Council for the Homeless, United Way and YWCA. She is a current member of the Board of the Alliance for Work Life Progress, the Center for Evidence Based Practices, the Center for Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund National Advisory Commission on Child Care and Early Education. In addition, Ms. Vinci has served as a commissioner on the National Head Start Fellowship Commission since its inception. Ms. Vinci's commitment to children and those who care for them is an inspiration to all who have known and worked with her. Her contributions have made a difference in the lives of many and have built a pathway for generations to come. On behalf of America's children and advocates for children, I thank her for her great work and wish her a rewarding retirement.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. The article describes a 9-year-old girl who wakes up screaming, ``Let me go!'' This is a 9-year old girl whose life has been forever changed by unimaginable violence. She says in the article, ``I am afraid of the gangsters. I feel like they are killing me in my nightmares. Every day, I have these nightmares.'' The story of this young girl--one of too many stories--ought to be enough to focus the Congress and the administration on the urgency of the domestic security situation in Iraq. Have we restored freedom to the Iraqi people when women and girls live in fear of abduction, rape, and murder? Have we restored freedom to the Iraqi people when women are denied participation in a new Iraqi government and economy because their physical security is threatened every time they go out alone? Have we restored freedom to the Iraqi people when 9-year-old girls are victimized in the most horrifying way? I want to share with the Senate a passage from the summary of the Human Rights Watch report titled, ``Climate of Fear: Sexual Violence and Abduction of Women and Girls in Baghdad.'' The summary reads: Many of the problems in addressing sexual violence and abduction against women and girls derive from the U.S.-led coalition forces and civilian administration's failure to provide public security in Baghdad. The public security vacuum in Baghdad has heightened the vulnerability of women and girls to sexual violence and abduction. The police force is considerably smaller and more poorly managed when compared to prior to the war. There is limited police street presence; fewer resources available to police to investigate; little if any record keeping; and many complaints are lost. Many hospitals and the forensic institute are unable to operate twenty-four hours a day as they did before the war, thus preventing women from obtaining medical treatment and the forensic examinations necessary to document sexual violence in a timely manner. The summary concludes with the following, At the time of writing, plans for Iraq's reconstruction are taking shape and rights of women and girls are at stake. It is essential that all parties involved in these plans address the state's inadequate protection of the rights of women and girls. Those involved in the reconstruction process should ensure that any existing and new trends toward treating women and girls unequally before the law and discouraging women and girls from reporting sexual violence, or punishing women and girls for being the victims of sexual violence are countered. We all know that our troops are faced with dangerous resistance throughout Iraq. Just yesterday, our military leaders acknowledged that we were facing a guerrilla warfare campaign of resistance. We know that our troops are serving honorably in a tremendously difficult environment. All of America is proud of our all volunteer force now serving in Iraq and the region. Despite the efforts of U.S. personnel, we have not adequately addressed the domestic security crisis in Iraq. We cannot ignore that women and young girls are being victimized with terrible consequences. These crimes do not just affect individual women but the way women are viewed and the role they will play in a new Iraq. We cannot be silent about the abuse and violence that has come to women and girls in liberated Iraq. The Schumer amendment is our opportunity today to tell the administration that we will not tolerate silence on the treatment of women and girls in Iraq. Mr. President, I commend the Senator from New York for bringing this issue to the Senate for the reasons he stated in order to allow us to know when our troops are going to be home. But, as I mentioned, I add another dimension to why it is so important to put a police force and have a trained police force in Iraq and on the ground there. I would recommend to all of my colleagues that they take the time to pick up the New York Times from yesterday and read the article I referred to, which is a front page article: ``Rape (And Silence About It) Haunts Baghdad.'' I will read from the beginning of that article: In her loose black dress, gold hairband and purple flip- flops, Sanariya hops from seat to seat in her living room like any lively 9-year-old. She likes to read. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up, and she says Michael, her white teddy bear, will be her assistant. But at night, the memory of being raped by a stranger seven weeks ago pulls her into its undertow. She grows feverish and has nightmares, her 28-year-old sister, Fatin, said. She cries, ``Let me go!'' ``I am afraid of the gangsters,'' [she says]. Every one of our colleagues should read the Human Rights Watch report that has just been released titled ``Climate of Fear, Sexual Violence and Abduction of Women and Girls in Baghdad.'' That report says that many of the problems in addressing sexual violence and abduction that are increasing in Iraq against women and girls derived from the United States-led coalition force's and civilian administration's failure to provide public security in Baghdad. We went to war in Iraq. We have heard everyone say it was to restore freedom. Let's make sure the young girls in Iraq have that security and that freedom as well. They do not have it today. The amendment by the Senator from New York puts us on track. We need to follow this in Iraq. I commend the Senator for the amendment and I thank the manager of the bill for accepting it.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor to support the Schumer amendment to the Defense bill regarding the development of an Iraqi police force. This is an urgent amendment--one of the most important Iraq-related amendments we have considered on the defense bill. The Schumer amendment will focus the administration's attention on the domestic security issue in Iraq that threatens American servicemen and women, other Americans and foreigners now in Iraq, and the Iraqi people. One of the reasons we went to war in Iraq was to liberate the Iraqi people. The military campaign was named, ``Operation Iraqi Freedom.'' Again and again, from the President on down, we have been told that we acted on behalf of the Iraqi people. We all witnessed the scenes of jubilation at the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Time and again, the administration has told us that we have restored freedom to the Iraqi people. We all hope this is ultimately true. But the truth today is very different for women in Iraq and particularly in Baghdad. Yeserday, Human Rights Watch released a report detailing reports of rape, assault, and kidnapping of women and girls in Baghdad. The report cites 25 credible allegations of rape and abduction since the fall of Saddam Hussein. It is believed that the number of rapes and sexual assaults in Baghdad is far higher. Women are discouraged from reporting the crime and face social isolation and even ``honor killings'' by other family members for being violently victimized. Yesterday's New York Times contains a disturbing article about the dangers confronting women in Baghdad. I ask unanimous consent to have the article, ``Rape (And the Silence About It) Haunts Baghdad,'' printed in the Record. [From the New York Times, July 16, 2003] Rape (and Silence About It) Haunts Baghdad (By Neela Banerjee) Baghdad, Iraq, July 15.--In her loose black dress, gold hairband and purple flip-flops, Sanariya hops from seat to seat in her living room like any lively 9-year-old. She likes to read. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up, and she says Michael, her white teddy bear, will be her assistant. But at night, the memory of being raped by a stranger seven weeks ago pulls her into its undertow. She grows feverish and has nightmares, her 28-year-old sister, Fatin, said. She cries, ``Let me go!'' ``I am afraid of the gangsters,'' Sanariya whispered in the twilight of her hallway. ``I feel like they are killing me in my nightmares. Every day, I have these nightmares.'' Since the end of the war and outbreak of anarchy on the capital's streets, women here have grown increasingly afraid of being abducted and raped. Rumors swirl, especially in a country where rape is so rarely reported. The breakdown of the Iraqi government after the war makes any crime hard to quantify. But the incidence of rape and abduction in particular seems to have increased, according to discussions with physicians, law-enforcement officials and families involved. A new report by Human Rights Watch based on more than 70 interviews with law-enforcement officials, victims and their families, medical personnel and members of the coalition authority found 25 credible reports of abduction and sexual violence since the war. Baghdadis believe there are far more, and fear is limiting women's role in the capital's economic, social and political life just as Iraq tires to rise from the ashes, the report notes. For most Iraqi victims of abduction and rape, getting medical and police assistance is a humiliating process. Deeply traditional notions of honor foster a sense of shame so strong that many families offer no consolation or support for victims, only blame. Sanariya's four brothers and parents beat her daily, Fatin said, picking up a bamboo slat her father uses. The city morgue gets corpses of women who were murdered by their relatives in so-called honor killings after they returned from an abduction--even, in some cases, when they had not been raped, said Nidal Hussein, a morgue nurse. ``For a woman's family, all this is worse than death,'' said Dr. Khulud Younis, a gynecologist at the Alwiyah Women's Hospital. ``They will face shame. If a woman has a sister, her future will be gone. These women don't deserve to be treated like this.'' It is not uncommon in Baghdad to see lines of cars outside girls' schools. So fearful are parents that their daughters will be taken away that they refuse to simply drop them off; they or a relative will stay outside all day to make sure nothing happens. ``Women and girls today in Baghdad are scared, and many are not going to schools or jobs or looking for work,'' said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle east and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. ``If Iraqi women are to participate in postwar society, their physical security needs to be an urgent priority.'' Beyda Jafar Sadiq, 17, made the simple decision to go to school on the morning of May 22 and never returned. Her family has been looking for her ever since. They have appealed to every international nongovernmental organization, the Iraqi police and the American authorities. Her eldest brother, Feras, 29, has crisscrossed the country, visiting the morgue in Basra in the south, traveling to Amara and Nasiriya on reports from acquaintances that they saw a girl who looked like Beyda. ``I just want to find her,'' said Beyda's mother, Zakiya Abd, her eyes swollen with grief. ``Whether she's alive or dead, I jut want to find her. Some police in Baghdad concede that at this point, there is little they can do to help. Their precinct houses were thoroughly looted after the war. Despite promises from the American authorities, Baghdad police still lack uniforms weapons, communications and computer equipment and patrol cars. ``We used to patrol all the time before the war,'' said a senior officer at the Aadimiya precinct house. ``Now, nothing, and the criminals realize their is no security on the streets.'' The Human Rights Watch report alleges that sometimes when women try to report a rape or families ask for help in finding abducted women, they are turned away by Iraqi police officers indifferent to the crimes. Some law-enforcement officials insist abduction and rape have not increased, while other officials and many medical personnel disagree. Bernard R. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner and now an adviser to the Interior Ministry, told of recently firing a precinct chief when he learned that the official had failed to pursue a family's report of their missing 16-year-old daughter. ``The biggest part of the issue is a culture that precludes people from reporting,'' Mr. Kerik said. ``It encourages people not to report.'' If an Iraqi woman wants to report a rape, she has to travel a bureaucratic odyssey. She first has to go to the police for documents that permit her to get a forensic test. That test is performed only at he city morgue. The police take a picture of the victim and stamp it and then stamp her arm. That is so no one else goes in her place and says that she was raped, that she lost her virginity,'' said Ms. Hussein, the nurse. At the morgue, a committee of three male doctors performs a gynecological examination on the victim to determine if there was sexual abuse. The doctors are available only from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. If a victim arrives at any other time, she has to return the next day, without washing away any physical evidence. Hospitals can check victims only for broader trauma, like contusions and broken bones. Dr. Younis said she had seen more rape cases in the months after the war than before. Yet even when women come to the hospital with injuries that are consistent with rape, they often insist something else happened. A 60-year-old woman asserted that she had been hit by a car. The mother of a 6- year-old girl begged the doctor to write a report saying that her daughter's hymen had been ruptured because she fell on a sharp object, a common lie families tell in the case of rape, Dr. Younis said. Shame and fear compel the lies, Dr. Younis said. ``A woman's father or brother, they feel it is their duty to kill her'' if she has been raped, Dr. Younis said. ``It is the tribal law. They will get only six months in prison and then they are out.'' Sanariya's family took her to a doctor three days after her attack only because the bleeding had not stopped. She had been sitting on the stairs at about 4 p.m. on May 22 when an armed man dragged her into an abandoned building next door. He shot at neighbors who tried to help the girl. He fled when she began screaming during the assault. Her mother refuses to let her outside now to play. Fatin lied to her family and said an operation had been done to restore Sanariya's hymen. But when her eldest brother, Ahmed, found out otherwise, he wanted to kill Sanariya, Fatin said. Out of earshot of her family, Sanariya said she feels no better now, two months after the attack. ``I don't sleep at night,'' she said in the hallway. ``I don't sleep.''

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote and move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, my colleagues will be voting momentarily on the nomination of Lonny Suko, and I rise today to support his nomination for U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Washington State. Lonny Suko is a distinguished lawyer and U.S. magistrate judge from my home State of Washington. I am honored to support his confirmation as a district court judge. He was unanimously reported out of the full Judiciary Committee on July 10. Judge Suko has strong bi-partisan support, and for good reason. He has handled some of the most difficult cases in Eastern Washington in the past decade, and he has won the respect of everyone who has come before him. That is one of the reasons why Judge Suko enjoys such strong support from a diverse group of attorneys and community leaders in Washington State. Both Senator Cantwell and I assisted the President in choosing him from a list of very qualified candidates. Lonny Suko has spent his life living and serving Eastern Washington. He is a graduate of my alma mater, Washington State University, and of the University of Idaho School of Law. He has had a distinguished career as a lawyer and a U.S. magistrate judge. In private practice, Lonny Suko had a sucessful practice defending both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of tort, contract, creditor-debtor, and public sector cases. He has also distinguished himself as a U.S. magistrate judge, serving part-time from 1971 to 1991, and full time since 1991. As I mentioned, Judge Suko handled some of the most challenging cases in recent history in Eastern Washington. He heard the injury and death claims of more than two dozen plaintiffs who were victimized by a gunman at Fairchild Air Force Base in the early 1990's. He was involved in several other high profile settlements. In all of those cases, Judge Suko won high praise for his judicial demeanor, his fairness and his respect for all parties. Judge Suko clearly meets the standards of fairness, even-handedness, and adherence to the law that we expect of our Federal judges. Outside of his many professional credentials, I have met with him, and have been impressed by his professionalism and decency. Therefore, it is my pleasure to support for confirmation to the Federal bench such a great lawyer and judge who I believe will make an exceptional Federal judge. He has served the people of our State well. I urge my colleagues to support his nomination. I yield the floor.

Mr. MURRAY

Mr. MURRAY. Mr. President, on Friday, July 11, 2003, I was unavoidably absent from the Senate and missed three rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall vote Nos. 272, 273 and 274. I particularly want the record to indicate my support for the Legislative Branch and Military Construction appropriations measures.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, in May, after weeks of Democratic efforts, Congress extended unemployment benefits for the 2\1/2\ million Americans who have been laid off due to the economic downturn in this country. So far, our Republican colleagues have refused to include assistance for the 1.1 million Americans who have been hit hardest by this economic crisis--those long-term unemployed who have already run out of their unemployment benefits. Mr. President, I come to the floor to offer this amendment before the Senate. The amendment will provide additional unemployment insurance compensation to more than 1 million Americans who have exhausted all of their unemployment insurance benefits. I ask unanimous consent to add Senators Kennedy, Durbin, Daschle, Sarbanes, Clinton, and Reed as cosponsors of my amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive the applicable sections of that act for purposes of the pending amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. Reserving the right to object, is the Senator speaking against the Murray amendment?

Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator is correct.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. The Murray amendment provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits for unemployed Americans who have exhausted all of their Federal unemployment benefits. That means we will be giving additional assistance to American workers who have been out of work for 9 months or more. My amendment provides 7 additional weeks of benefits for unemployed Americans who have already received 26 weeks of benefits because they live in a State hit hardest by the ongoing recession. Finally, my amendment provides parity to railroad workers currently ineligible for extended benefits. The amendment before us would cost $2.5 billion, but it would help more than a million American workers and their families. Mr. President, we are talking about the people in this country who have been hit hardest by this recession. We are talking about workers who have run out of options but still have to pay their mortgage; they still have to pay their medical bills; they still have college tuition to pay. One recent study concluded that unemployed workers do not have significant savings to carry their families through an extended period of unemployment. Unemployment rates normally replace less than half--50 percent--of lost wages. What this means is unemployed workers are draining their savings accounts just to survive. The problem is even more acute for the long-term unemployed. Many of those have drained their savings entirely. They have nothing left. Last week's June 2003 unemployment report clearly demonstrates the need for this amendment at this time: 30,000 jobs were lost in the month of June; jobs have been lost for the last 5 consecutive months in this country; more than 394,000 jobs have been lost since January of this year; 9.4 million Americans are now unemployed; 3.4 million Americans have lost their jobs just since President Bush took office. Mr. President, we will soon be in the longest job recession since the 1930s and the Great Depression. My State of Washington has the second highest unemployment rate in the Nation. The unemployment rate in my State is 7.3 percent, and that is just the official unemployment rate. One recent business columnist suggested the actual unemployment rate for the State of Washington could be as high as 11.8 percent if you count all of Washington's unemployed workers. All across Washington--in every sector and every region--we are continuing to see job losses. One recent economic report predicted it would be 2005 before any real job creation occurs in Washington State. That is a long time for people who have been out of work for 9 months or more. My colleague from Oregon, Senator Wyden, is in the Chamber. He and I share the distinction of being in States with the highest unemployment for the last number of years. We know when we go home that we are going to be faced by neighbors, by friends in every community across our State who will have been on unemployment, through no fault of their own. They want to be at work. They want to support their families. They want to send their kids to college. They want to pay their mortgages. They want to pay for health care. They do not have jobs. They do not have opportunities. And we have a responsibility to make sure they do not lose everything because of a recession that has been no fault of their own. Despite the rosy projections of economic growth and recovery that we keep hearing from this administration, we have to tell you there are many real Americans who are suffering through this economy every day. In my State, there are about 20,000 workers who would benefit from the amendment that is now before the Senate. I have met with these workers who are struggling today. We have lost 35,000 Boeing manufacturing jobs in the last 2 years alone. On an almost daily basis, my office gets calls from workers who are desperate, who have lost their benefits or who will soon lose their unemployment insurance compensation. In fact, yesterday I received a phone call from a gentleman named Richard, and I want to read the message he left my office: He said: I live on Camino Island. I'm a laid off Boeing worker. I got laid off a year and a half ago. And I'm in school right now. My unemployment insurance just ran out. I have 8 months left of school. . . .I'm really concerned right now. . . .That money would have been a godsend. I worked for Boeing for over 12 years. This could be anyone working hard, raising their family, working for Boeing for 12 years and, through no fault of their own, through an economic recession in this country, through September 11, through a downturn in our airline industry, this gentleman was laid off. He is now trying to get his life back together. He is going to school. He does not want to lose everything. He wants to contribute back to this economy and to this country. He needs us to extend unemployment insurance to give him that kind of assurance that this country is there for him in the good times and in the tough times. There are a lot of workers, such as Richard from Camino Island, in my State who are losing their benefits. Many of these workers are losing hope in this current economy. This amendment gives more than 1 million American workers and their families new hope, new assurance that their country is there for them. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I urge its adoption this morning on this bill. I thank the Chair.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, 30,000 jobs were lost in the month of June alone. We have lost jobs in the last 5 consecutive months. A million people have now lost additional compensation under UI. This amendment is extremely important. I yield the remainder of my time to Senator Kennedy.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, how much time remains under the agreement before the vote?

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

Mrs. MURRAY. How much time does the other side have?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I would ask the Senator from Oklahoma if he intends to use all his time. Mr. President, I know many Senators are waiting to vote. I will just make a few more comments. I know Senator Nickles intends to raise a budget point of order. Let me say in response to the comments made in opposition to the Murray amendment that we will be voting on shortly, that we on this side, Democrats, have brought this issue up time and again. That is because our economy is struggling. That is because we have families at home who have been laid off, who have run out of unemployment insurance. We would love to have a debate on how to increase jobs. Democrats believe investing in transportation that provides infrastructure and new jobs is critical. Democrats believe investing in education, getting our economy going again is an important way to provide jobs for people. And there are other investments we believe would be helpful in providing jobs. We have not had the debates. We have been thwarted at every turn. As a result, we have people at home who have been laid off. In the last 5 consecutive months we have lost jobs. We cannot continue to ignore those people at home who are out of work, who have run out of unemployment insurance, who cannot pay their mortgage, put food on the table, are becoming even more of a drag on our economy because they can't contribute back. We believe by extending unemployment benefits we will at least help them in the temporary. We welcome a debate on getting jobs and the economy going again. We have been waiting for that discussion. We have had time to have a tax cut debate. We have seen that has not produced the kinds of jobs we need. In fact, 3.5 million Americans have lost their jobs since this President took office. We want to have a jobs program. But at this point that has not occurred. What we now have is more than 1 million Americans who have run out of their unemployment insurance. The time is right. We hear this violates the Budget Act. I welcome my colleagues to go home and say to a young family whose father or mother has lost their job, who are struggling every single day with tears in their eyes, that this violates the Budget Act or this is not the right time or the right bill. We can do this, and we can do it now. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. I tell our colleagues on the other side as long as this economy struggles, as long as people are losing unemployment insurance benefits, we are going to continue to bring this issue back to the floor. We would like to have a jobs program. We would like to see jobs increased. We want to have the debate. Right now we need to deal with the immediate. I ask unanimous consent that Senators Cantwell and Dayton be listed as cosponsors of the Murray amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.