Arlen Specter

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Anybody who takes a look at this amendment would say, fairly stated, it is too complicated to be discussed in 2 minutes after an argument last night. It ought to go before the authorizing committee.

Mr. SPECTER. Then I yield the floor.

Mr. SPECTER. I yield my time to the Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, on the modification, I do not anticipate a problem, but I would like to have a chance to look at it. May I call for the regular order? I can examine it when we vote next. The regular order is to hear from the Senator from Rhode Island for a brief period of time before we vote. Amendment No. 1596

Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, there is no doubt about the seriousness of the problem of West Nile. I made a trip to the Centers for Disease Control on Saturday and took a look at their operation, took a look at their charts, took a look at their projections as to where West Nile had struck, the number of illnesses, the number of fatalities. However, we are funding the Centers for Disease Control now at $5.760 billion. It is true $1.100 billion is directed additionally for bioterrorism, but that agency is extensively funded. With respect to the allocation directly for West Nile, they have $36.760 million in this bill. We have in NIH at least $40 million more, for a total of $76 million. Here again, I would like to see additional funding if we had the money. When we talk about the funding for the mosquitos of $100,000, I went over, in a lengthy visit at the Centers for Disease Control, their priorities and their needs. That is a program just recently authorized. There was no request by the administration. With the tremendous constraints on the rest of the bill we did not fund it. However, I believe we have adequately funded West Nile. And certainly we have funded the Centers for Disease Control. So they are in a position to allocate additional funds if they think it is necessary. But on this phase of the record, I think our appropriations bill is adequate. Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. SPECTER. Now we go to the Landrieu amendment.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. SPECTER. I urge the adoption of the amendment.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we have two more amendments to be offered by the Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Santorum, and the Senator from Ohio, Senator DeWine. We ask they come to the floor now. If there are objections to the amendment which has just been offered on the National Institutes of Health, we ask Senators to come to the floor so we can wrap up the debate, move on these votes, and move to final passage. We are within the very short distance of the goal line, but we need those other Senators to come to the floor. Last Wednesday we were talking about going to third reading. That might be a subject to revisit. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SPECTER. I do.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, there is no doubt about the seriousness of the West Nile virus. But we have, at the present time, some $76 million at the Centers for Disease Control. This past Saturday, I visited the Centers for Disease Control. I took a look at their maps and saw the incidence of West Nile and have no request from the Centers for Disease Control that there ought to be any additional funding. Mr. President, I raise a point of order under section 504 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2004 that the amendment is not in order because it exceeds discretionary spending limits.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we have decided to accept the amendment of the Senator from Nevada, Mr. Ensign. Does the ranking member concur in that?

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. I am glad to join Senator Harkin in confirming our intent that funding in the Labor-HHS appropriations bill be used in part to continue funding 12 Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research. These centers were established through a joint initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and combine a new, unique, multidisciplinary approach to researching, identifying, treating, and ultimately preventing health risks posed to children by environmental hazards in the communities in which they live, play and attend school. As you know, we do not earmark NIH. I ask Senator Clinton, how much does NIEHS provide in funding for the centers?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate insist on its amendment to H.R. 2660, request a conference with the House of Representatives on the disagreeing votes thereon, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished majority leader for his comments and for his leadership on these very important issues. He has truly been a leader in this area, and he has consistently pushed for improvements in Federal programs to eliminate health disparities. In fact, he authored the Title VII and Title VIII Reauthorizations as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee's Public Health Subcommittee during the 105th Congress. As he knows, our subcommittee has a long history of supporting HRSA's Health Professions Training programs. Senator Harkin and I appreciate the contributions these programs make to our provider workforce through a variety of scholarships, loans, grants and contracts. Unfortunately, the allocation that was provided to the subcommittee for FY04 did not permit us to fully support these worthy initiatives. I agree with the majority leader that a restoration of funding for all health professions programs should be our goal in conference. I am pleased to commit to the majority leader that I will do all I can to fully restore funds for the four diversity programs and, at a minimum, bring funding for the other programs to the House level.

Mr. SPECTER. I thank the distinguished Senators from South Carolina and Iowa. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $2,496,889,000 for Medicare operations, the full amount of the President's budget request and an increase of $110,209,000 over the FY 2003 level. I share your concerns that beneficiaries and providers receive the highest level of service by adequately funding Medicare contractors. We also must ensure that the trust fund is protected by adequately funding MIP. I thank the Senator from South Carolina and the ranking member of the subcommittee for raising these important issues, and I offer my commitment to work with you both to provide Medicare contractors with the resources needed to best serve beneficiaries and providers as well as encourage this Congress to authorize an increase in the MIP funding so that we may appropriate those critically needed dollars.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Nevada for raising this important issue. As he pointed out, the lack of a uniform and comprehensive cancer survivorship plan is becoming a critical public health issue for the millions of cancer survivors and their families and friends. That is why I worked with my close friend Senator Harkin to secure increased funding for this program. Like so many public health programs, especially within the Chronic Disease Account, there is a lot more that can and should be done. I will work with my friend from Nevada and the conferees to secure the highest possible funding level for comprehensive cancer programs.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues from Hawai'i, Virginia, and Nebraska for raising this very important issue. I agree that the funding levels for Mentoring Programs and Mentoring for Children of Prisoners should be examined carefully in Conference. We have a great many wonderful mentoring programs throughout Pennsylvania that could use more funding in order to continue their good work with young people. I applaud the three Senators in their goal that these two programs receive the $75 million funding level proposed by the other body. I will work with them and my colleagues in the other body to try to achieve this goal during conference.

Mr. SPECTER. I ask for the yeas and nays on final passage.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Hampshire for his support for the subcommittee's efforts in this regard. We should all be concerned about the scourge of obesity among our Nation's youth, and I am committed to assisting the necessary partnerships and programs needed to reverse these devastating trends. Those efforts should include private organizations such as the YMCA to the extent possible and government at all levels should be working with such groups to develop and implement after school physical activity programs to reduce and prevent obesity. I am delighted to work with my colleague from New Hampshire to ensure that national nonprofit organization's like the YMCA and Jewish Community centers have an opportunity to play a leading role in helping achieve the President's goals for a healthier America.

Mr. SPECTER. I am glad to join Senator Harkin in confirming our intent that the Vaccines for Children program funding in the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill be used in part to stockpile a 6-month supply of childhood vaccines. Only a year ago, doctors had to turn families away at the door because of national vaccine shortages for eight out of the eleven vaccine-preventable diseases. During the vaccine shortage, children became ill with pneumococcal meningitis and pneumonia, diseases that could have been prevented with an adequate supply of the pneumococcal vaccine. Fortunately, we have witnessed some significant progress since then, which is a credit to a collaborative effort by public health officials, vaccine manufacturers and providers. Shortages have stopped, and childhood vaccines for eleven different diseases are no longer being delayed.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I thank my esteemed colleague, the Senator from Hawaii, for bringing this matter to our attention and I look forward to working with him and the NIH to resolve this matter. This subcommittee has successfully doubled the NIH budget over the last 5 years. Thus this speaks to this subcommittee's commitment to all types of scientific health research, including behavioral health. Basic behavioral research is essential if we are to successfully address the many public health issues plaguing our Nation. Since September 11, 2001, the psychological and physiological effects of terrorism and stress became real to all Americans across this great Nation. It is imperative that we, as a nation, better understand the psychological effects of sustained stress and the role of the behavioral health sciences in the prevention and treatment of the leading causes or morbidity and mortality. The leading causes of death and chronic illness are related to high risk behaviors such as: unintentional injuries and violence, tobacco use, alcohol and drug use, dietary behaviors, sexual behaviors, and inactivity. I am committed to working with you and Senator Harkin to help ensure that NIH understands the wishes of this Subcommittee.

Mr. SPECTER. I commend my friend from California for her tireless dedication to ensuring the protection of unaccompanied alien children. Indeed, it was her efforts last year that brought about the transfer of responsibility for these vulnerable children to ORR. I am pleased to have been a supporter of those efforts. As the Senator knows, the President requested $34.227 million for unaccompanied alien children for fiscal year 2004. The allocation levels the subcommittee received for fiscal year 2004 were so low, the committee had to reduce the overall funding for ORR beneath the President's request. Nonetheless, the committee recommended the full $34.227 million for fiscal year 2004 for unaccompanied alien children that the President requested.

Mr. SPECTER. I thank the Senator from Washington for her comments. And I think she makes a good point about the important role the Senate can play in supporting the retraining of dislocated workers. The Senator is correct that we have agreed to include an additional $25 million for the Dislocated Worker funding stream in the managers' amendment. I will fight to keep this funding in the conference committee bill.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.