Debbie Stabenow

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, this week is National Police Week, a week set aside each year to honor our law enforcement officers and to pay special tribute to the 600,000 sworn officers who put their lives on the line for our protection. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to one of those very special officers in my community who died in the line of duty in 1996, Sergeant Paul L. Cole. On Sunday, October 6, 1996, the Ingham County Sheriff's Department suffered a terrible loss when Sergeant Paul L. Cole was killed in a traffic accident. Sergeant Cole was en route to a domestic problem when several deer jumped in front of his patrol vehicle, causing it to slide out of control. The vehicle struck a tree, killing Sergeant Cole instantly. Sergeant Cole was a 19-year veteran of the sheriff's department, serving in both corrections and field services. He was a department dog handler and promoted to sergeant in September 1995. Paul has a loving wife, Kathy, and three loving children, Heather Marie, Paul Wayne, and Andrew Scott. On behalf of the citizens of Michigan, Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to the service of Sergeant Paul L. Cole to Ingham County, MI. He was an outstanding public servant.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, as Members of the Michigan congressional delegation we wish to recognize the International ATHENA Foundation for their important support of women in the workplace. The International ATHENA Foundation identifies outstanding professional and business women in the community and encourages the opening of leadership opportunities for women in the workplace. The International ATHENA Foundation issues awards in coordination with local chambers of commerce recognizing individuals for business and professional accomplishments, community service, mentoring, and for providing role models to encourage women to achieve their full leadership potential. Recipients of the International ATHENA Award for achievement, service, and assistance to others are honored in their communities annually and recognized for excellence as honorees among a select group rather than as competitors. The ATHENA Awards encourage communities, States, and nations to achieve a representative balance of leadership by identifying and honoring those individuals and companies who assist women in reaching their full leadership potential. We are very pleased to support these causes and are happy their national conference will be taking place in Michigan this year. Lynn N. Rivers, Vernon J. Ehlers, Peter Hoekstra, Dale E. Kildee, John Dingell, John Conyers, Jr., Jim Barcia, David E. Bonior, Sander Levin, Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, Bart Stupak, and Debbie Stabenow.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend my colleagues who supported voting no on the rule that came before us that addressed the issue of funding for WIC. Unfortunately, the rule that was in front of us did not guarantee solid, long-term funding for WIC. I am very pleased that the rule was voted down and that we now have an opportunity to come back and do the right thing. I also rise today, Mr. Speaker, to commend colleagues of mine in a bipartisan basis, the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur] and the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. Roukema], who have worked very hard in a bipartisan way to guarantee that women and children under the WIC Program have the nutritional services and the food that they need in order to be healthy and successful. My colleague from the other side of the aisle from Florida spoke a few moments ago very eloquently about the need for the WIC Program. I would just add to that. In my years of working in county and State government, I have not felt more confident about any other program of government as I have about the WIC Program. It provides supplementation directly to pregnant women and women and young children up to 5 who are low income and in need of good nutritious food, vegetables, fruit, other nutritional supplementation, eggs, milk, and so on. We know without a doubt that for every $1 we put into prenatal care, much of it is nutritional services to make sure that women are healthy, that babies are healthy. For every $1 we put into prenatal care we know we save more than $6 immediately in intensive care costs, many times related to low birthweight babies. The WIC Program works. It is one that makes sense. It ought not to be a partisan issue. I would strongly urge that my colleagues in the majority come back with a process that we can all support to guarantee WIC funding. I also need to respond as a member of the Committee on Agriculture for just a moment, because in addition to providing direct nutritional food and services for women and children to guarantee that they are healthy and have a good start in life, this is also a wonderful opportunity to provide additional markets for agricultural products. Michigan is strong in agriculture. We have more agricultural products that we grow than almost any other State in the Union. We are very proud of the fact that Michigan farmers have expanded markets for fresh produce through the farmers market nutrition program, which in Michigan we call Project Fresh. This is a way for our farmers to provide fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, to women and children who are in need of that, and it also allows them to have another market for their goods, so it works on all accounts. It is good for agriculture, it is good for families, it saves costs on health care, and I am very hopeful and urge that our colleagues who are determining the way to proceed on the rules regarding WIC funding will come back with an open process that we can embrace in a bipartisan way to guarantee that one of the most cost-effective and one of the most commonsense programs provided through Government, the WIC Program, is allowed to continue in a way that would allow our women and children in this country to be healthy.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I would rise also with grave concern today about the committee funding resolution that is before us. We are in the final discussions, I understand, concerning the budget. Very difficult decisions are having to be made, priorities are having to be set, and when I look at my constituents in the 8th District in Michigan, I want to be able to say that my priority was on the WIC Program that was just discussed by my good friend from Maine on the opportunities for families to send their children to college, making sure that they have technology in their schools and they are prepared for the jobs for the future, have good jobs and that all families have opportunities to cover their children with health care. Mr. Speaker, my concern is that when we look at this funding resolution in total, we are looking at over a 14-percent increase in the amount of dollars going to fund our own committees. I would agree with my good friend from Michigan that we are working hard in the Committee on Science, we are working hard in a number of committees and reporting bills, but we have been doing just fine reporting those bills and working hard without a 14-percent increase in the committee funding bill. If I were to ask my constituents whether they would prefer that we hire more staff here at the Capitol or whether or not we provide more opportunities for their children to go to college, I know where the votes would be, I know where my constituents would be telling me to vote, and that is why today I cannot support this kind of a tremendous increase in this bill and I would strongly urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to take another look at what our real priorities are. This is not about the internal workings of Congress and increasing employees, increasing staff. If we have to work a little harder, fine. My constituents are working very, very hard every day working hard on behalf of their families, and my priorities are with them.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo as lead cosponsor of the Computer Donation Incentive Act. This legislation will provide enhanced tax incentives to corporations that donate computers, software, and computer training to public schools and to organizations that support individuals with disabilities. One of my top priorities in representing the Eighth District of Michigan is to ensure that every school has the latest technology in their classrooms. To accomplish this important goal, we cannot look to Government alone to provide support; rather, we need to encourage partnerships and community investment. I am leading this legislation because I believe our communities, businesses and local governments need to work together if we are going to retool our schools for the 21st century. Under current law, computer donations from computer manufacturers to private schools, colleges, and universities qualify for an enhanced tax deduction, similar donations to public schools do not. I believe this law needs to be changed. Having a daughter in the public school system and a son who graduated from a public school, I am deeply committed to strengthening our public schools. I believe that we all have a stake in guaranteeing the best possible public schools in every neighborhood, in every community, and in our country. The Computer Donation Incentive Act amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to give all companies the enhanced tax deduction when donating to public schools. Second, it is not only important that our public schools receive computers, but that our teachers receive the training they need, as well. This legislation also designates up to 8 hours of computer training as a charitable contribution. In my district, I have been leading efforts such as NetDay and the passage of the Computer Donation Incentive Act because I believe that it is imperative that our students stay competitive in the computer- literate work force of the global market. The Computer Donation Incentive Act will go a long way in encouraging more companies to invest in schools and their communities. Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for Congresswoman Eshoo's leadership on this issue and I am very proud to be able to work with her as lead cosponsor on passage of this legislation. I am equally pleased with the bipartisan list of original cosponsors that have endorsed this legislation. As a new Member of Congress, I am heartened by this cooperative spirit and I encourage all of my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join us in passing the Computer Donation Incentive Act.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Chairman, I will take just a moment to rise to commend both the chair of the committee and the ranking member of the committee as well as the ranking member of our subcommittee dealing with the National Science Foundation for the excellent work and the bipartisanship that has come from the Committee on Science this year. As a first-term Member, I am very pleased to be a part of a committee that is focused and committed to investing in scientific research and development, technology development, environmental research, and efforts through the National Science Foundation. Very important efforts are taking place on behalf of this country that are critical to our economic competitiveness in the future. We no longer as a country are looking at competition, business to business or State to State. It is definitely country to country. Our ability to maintain our economic advantage is only as strong as our willingness to invest in basic research and the development of technology in partnership with business. I am extremely pleased that the NIST budget has passed and that the advanced technology program and other important partnership efforts have been included this year that are critical. The National Science Foundation has a very important base that has been adopted by this committee. I would like to again commend our leadership on both sides of the aisle for a strong vision and commitment, and I am hopeful that we will be successful in maintaining this throughout the process.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I first would like to commend the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. LaHood] and the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Skaggs] for what was an outstanding weekend for us to come together and to talk as human beings about our differences and about the ways in which we can get things done. I would hope that the first way that we would show our constituents that we were serious about getting things done would be to start by balancing the budget. We do not need to have a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, as they say, we just need to do it. We need to do it in the way our families do, at kitchen tables all across the country, making sure their own priorities, protecting the interests of their families are at stake, and at the same time making sure that their own budgets are balanced. The lessons of Hershey are that we need to work together and to get something done. We have a limited amount of time, 9 legislative days, to present a budget. We need to get serious. We need to get busy and show our constituents that we intend to have the political will to balance the budget this year.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise to indicate that on Thursday, March 6, I was on a leave of absence for official business, having had the pleasure of escorting the President of the United States to my district to discuss education issues. As a result, I missed rollcall votes 32 through 35. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall votes 32 and 35, and ``yea'' on rollcall votes 33 and 34.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in response to Congressman Tom Coburn's assertion that the airing of the Academy-award winning film ``Schindler's List'' was an all-time low for network television. Twenty-five years ago, I walked through the Dachau concentration camp and was overwhelmed with emotion. I could not understand how something like the Holocaust could have happened. I could not understand the hate. I could not understand the loss of lives. The visit had a tremendous effect on me. Watching ``Schindler's List'' on Sunday evening, I had the same deep sense of how something so unspeakably horrible could have happened. I speak out not only as the Representative of the Eighth District of Michigan, who believes we all need to fight against hatred and social injustice, but also as a mother who has seen the great effects the movie ``Schindler's List'' can have on our children. My daughter, a junior at Sexton High School in Lansing, recently watched ``Schindler's List'' in her world history class. I was extremely impressed with how her teacher used the movie to document examples of the Holocaust, so the students could see, first-hand, the gruesome reality of what occurred. My daughter came home from school after seeing this movie and said, ``Mom, how could this have happened?'' These are the questions we need to ask if we are going to learn from the past. We need to make sure that the Holocaust is never forgotten. As a parent, I appreciated my community and my daughter's teacher for showing ``Schindler's List''. ``Schindler's List'' opened the eyes and minds of my daughter and her classmates to the harsh realities of the past. We all, young and old, can learn from ``Schindler's List.'' I am proud that Steven Speilberg, the Ford Motor Co., and NBC had the courage to show the truth. I commend them for instilling an important message: ``To be educated, to learn from the past, and to strive to make sure that a Holocaust never happens again.''

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I thank so much the gentlewoman from Texas for yielding to me on this important subject, and also for her excellent work on behalf of children, in promoting education on behalf of children. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the outstanding achievements of NetDay, and to endorse the resolution presented by the distinguished Member from the State of Texas. Like my colleagues, I am committed to seeing that our schools and libraries are equipped with the tools that our children need for the 21st century. Today, that means access to computers and access to the Internet. As I have frequently said at home in the great State of Michigan, there is more computer power today in the average gas station than the average classroom, and that must change if our children are to succeed in the world economy. Unfortunately, too many schools and too many libraries do not have the basic infrastructure necessary to link themselves to the information superhighway. All too often the cost of wiring our public schools and libraries is prohibitive, given the limited fiscal resources available to the States and local governments. For example, it has been estimated that it would cost more than $1,000 per classroom to install the basic wiring needed to access the Internet, in addition to the costs of purchasing computers and printers and software, which is also estimated to be in the nature of thousands of dollars per classroom. Mr. Speaker, we simply cannot wait 20 years to provide the infrastructure and the basic level of technology that our children need to be successful. The founders of NetDay recognize this critical need, and I salute them. They also recognize that government alone cannot fulfill the objective, and in fact we must challenge our communities, the private sector, the universities, the labor unions, parents. All of us, working together, must come together in order to make sure our children have what they need in our schools. NetDay is a model example of the public-private sector partnership that this administration spoke of and that I wholeheartedly endorse and am working on behalf of. Already I am in discussions in Michigan, in the Eighth District, with our private sector community, with our universities, parents, local schools, so we too can have our children benefit from those activities that have been created by NetDay. I am excited about this adventure, and I pledge to act as a catalyst in my communities in the Eighth District in Michigan on behalf of the children in the Eighth District and on behalf of the children in the Nation. I encourage my colleagues and my constituents to join myself, to join the leadership here today in supporting NetDay 1997. I appreciate very much the opportunity to address the House on this matter. I thank the gentlewoman again for allowing me to participate today.