Fred Upton

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just note that I am convinced that the Bush administration does not want to repeat the mistakes of the Clinton administration. I look forward to working with the gentleman as we deal with this issue in the future.

Mr. UPTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just like to reiterate that Secretary Evans very strongly supports this legislation. We expect the President to sign it should we get it through the other body. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. UPTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4560) to eliminate the deadlines for spectrum auctions of spectrum previously allocated to television broadcasting, as amended.

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I have a question of the gentleman. I know he is a great leader on this when he was in the legislature before he ran for Congress. Have his numbers been like Michigan's and other States across the country? Has the gentleman seen a real decline in pregnancy rates among teen moms?

Mr. UPTON. I appreciate the gentleman's leadership. In the days past, and, obviously, in the days ahead, we have some big votes next week if we take this welfare reform bill up. This is an important component of that. I am delighted we passed it out of my committee, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, on a strong vote of 35 to 17, and we have to make sure we carry the day when we take this issue to the House floor for debate next week.

Mr. UPTON. Absolutely. I look at my State and that is exactly when teen pregnancies began to drop. And the nice thing about this program is it is not just Federal dollars, it encourages the States to establish their programs and it becomes a match. For every $4 of Federal dollars, the States have to come up with $3. And then there are incentives and awards if they actually do work. Michigan has had a great program under the leadership of our governor, and we have seen that work and we have seen those rates continue to decline year after year.

Mr. UPTON. One of the things I said last week during the markup in a discussion on the bill is that I visit a school, just like the gentleman does, just about every week, because I also serve on the Committee on Education and the Workforce. I go to all different sizes. I was on the Western Michigan University campus earlier this morning. But whether it be an elementary school, a high school, a private school, a charter school, and we passed a great charter school bill earlier this evening, but one of the toughest times that I have had sitting down with students is when I have met with kids that have kids, 13, 14, 15-year-old girls. They thought it was fun until they had the child. They see now what the work is and they have a tough life ahead of them. They really do. It is all we can do to encourage them to stay in school because their lives are changed dramatically if they do not continue to get that high school diploma or GED afterwards. And as I have sat down with those girls, kids really is what it is, they know how tough it is. And it is that message, and I am now 49 years old and they do not always want to hear from a 49-year-old guy, so it is better for them to hear from their own peers. And they do not have a very good story to tell. We really got that discussion, as I said, at a number of different schools. We just sat around the table and they outlined for me the hardships that they now face and the realization that they probably should not have done what they did. And, frankly, it was before a lot of these programs came into play. Abstinence does work. Those programs and that funding is important, and it keeps them on a much better path. Project Reality, a group from Illinois, came out with six good reasons to fund abstinence education: One, teens want to learn about abstinence. Nearly all teens, 93 percent, said they should be given a strong message about abstinence.

Mr. UPTON. Second, abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method of prevention. We know that. Three, most teens are not sexually active and most of those who are do not want to be. The Center for Disease Control reports that about 36 percent of high school students are considered sexually active. Four, abstinence education teaches the benefits of marriage and family. Surveys show that three out of four teens hope to have a good marriage and family life. But here are two things that really stand out. Abstinence education offers significant economic and sociological benefits. Teens who choose abstinence are less likely to engage in other risk-related behaviors, such as underage drinking, smoking, and the use of illegal drugs. Pretty incredible.

Mr. UPTON. That is right. It is character and all the things we want. This program builds on that.

Mr. UPTON. Well, imagine, as we look at the great progress that has happened on welfare reform. And it is on both sides of the aisle. The governors have done a terrific job. I have met with our Department of Social Services, now called our FIA offices back in Michigan. But as we look at the tremendous progress that we have had; more money for job training, assistance to help with health benefits, particularly Medicaid for families that before had an incentive to stay on welfare rather than go on to work, take a look at this program, the abstinence program, it is such a small amount of money really relative to the whole scheme of things. Fifty million dollars.

Mr. UPTON. But look at the importance. Look at that drop, that fall off of the cliff of the birth rates for unmarried teens. Imagine if we went back to this program, to reauthorize it, as the governors have asked, and I think we have a strong bipartisan majority, certainly both in our Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the committee we both serve on, but in this Congress as well, and imagine if we saw this program come to the brink of whether it gets reauthorized or not, something that all of us want, and somehow this program for abstinence was not included, despite the numbers showing the very positive effects of having this program included. Imagine if we just said no, we are not going to do that and then watched those numbers then rise. Now, the jury is still out. We will see what the Congress does, this side as well as the other side of the Capitol, but imagine if all of a sudden we do not do it and the numbers go back up. Think of the impact on those kids that the gentleman and I see every day and of those families in virtually every single community across the country. I do not know that I could vote for a bill without this program.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, we learned that some of those diseases are not prevented with the use of a condom.

Mr. UPTON. They are not. That is what the answer was, they are not. That is why this is the program that works best of all.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, we have been able to talk to participants that have participated in the program across the country. Whether it is Nebraska or Michigan or South Carolina, just about every State, and California is the one that does not participate, but the other 49 States do. In almost every single State we have testimonials from students that have participated that have said thank you. For those that did involve themselves with sex before, they are sorry. They talk about it in a number of testimonials that we have. It is important, and it is that type of peer pressure that works that we build upon as we see this program work in State after State after State.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks tonight. As we look at a host of issues over this last year, a number of the votes that we have cast on other things, we have asked for science and the right equations be used as we cast these yes and no votes. The science is here. We know that this program works, and it would be wrong to deny this as a part of welfare reform as we look to have it reauthorized and continue to work and do what all of us want to have happen, and that is to move people that are currently able-bodied and have the tools to in fact lead productive lives and lead their families out of welfare and into a productive sector of our economy. This is a program that works. The science shows that it does, and we have to make sure that we not only continue it, but we build upon it, allowing the governors to have the flexibility to match with their dollars to save more lives. That is what it is all about. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I know that there are a number of Members wishing to come over tonight to talk on this Special Order, and I also know that there is a markup going on in the Committee on Armed Services, so a number of Members may put their remarks in as an extension of remarks. We are holding this Special Order tonight to provide our colleagues and the public with information about a key component of the 1996 welfare reform law, title V, Abstinence Education Block Grant program. When we passed welfare reform in 1996, we emphasized a number of points, two specifically: work and responsibility. And we have made great strides in promoting work, but too many young people's dreams have been cut short by poor decisions that dramatically affect the course of their lives. Teen birth rates have been falling for the last 9 years and that is good news. But nearly half a million teens are giving birth each year, a rate higher than those of most industrialized nations. And 8,519 births last year are to girls under the age of 15. We know that out-of-wedlock births and teen births take a high toll on the teen mom, the child and our society as a whole; and we know that that life is rough for them as well. And while the teen birth rate may be falling, sexually transmitted diseases, STDs, have reached epidemic proportions in this country, placing the health and the very lives of sexually-active teens in peril. Today, one in four sexually-active teens is infected with an STD. Numerous studies show that if you give abstinence education a chance to work, it does. I know in my State of Michigan we have been at the forefront of this effort, and we have made significant progress in reducing teen births and the number of abortions through education and mentoring programs, and that has got to be our national goal. Mr. Speaker, President Bush got it right when he said that abstinence is not just about saying no to sex, it is about saying yes to a happy, healthier future. Anyone who thinks abstinence education does not work has only to examine the Michigan record, my State. Begun back in 1993, Michigan's Abstinence Partnership, MAP, the MAP program, is an innovative approach implemented through the community empowerment model. Community coalitions plan, implement, evaluate, revise and monitor the program. Parent education is provided to encourage effective communication with youth about the importance and the benefits of choosing abstinence. For the last 3 years in a row, Michigan has received a bonus award from the Department of Health and Human Services given each year to up to five States which experience the largest decrease in their ratio of out-of-wedlock to total births while also experiencing a reduction in their abortion rate. Michigan is far from alone in embracing abstinence education as an effective means of reducing teen pregnancies in out-of-wedlock births and of protecting our young people from the scourge of sexually transmitted diseases. State participation in the title V abstinence program is voluntary, and for every $4 in Federal funding States receive, they must put $3 into non-Federal funding. So it is a 4-to-3 match, and yet interest in this program is very high. Today 49 out of the 50 States are participating in the program. Over one-third of all school districts in the Nation now choose to teach abstinence education in their classrooms, and as part of their abstinence education programs, States and local grantees have launched media campaigns to influence attitudes and behavior, develop abstinence curriculum, revamp sexual education classes, start mentoring programs and implement other creative and effective approaches to encourage abstinence. It is important to note that reauthorization of title V abstinence education program, which we did in the Committee on Energy and Commerce last week, will in no way affect Federal support for other teenage pregnancy prevention sexual programs. Let me say that again. The reauthorization of this program last week in no way affects other Federal support for other teen pregnancy prevention programs. There are at least 25 Federal programs providing funding for contraceptive and sex education while there are only three abstinence-focused programs. Contrary to claims that my colleagues may have heard about restrictions about what may be discussed in abstinence education programs, nothing in the Federal law or the guidelines to the States prohibits the discussion of any subject. Contrary to the claim that there is no scientific evidence that abstinence programs work, there are, in fact, 10 scientific evaluations available now showing that abstinence education is effective in reducing sexual activity. Since 1996, the enactment of the Welfare Reform bill included abstinence education, teen pregnancy and birthrates have been falling. That is great news, but we need to continue and build on that success. Out-of-wedlock births are often disastrous for mothers, children, society as a whole, and children born out-of-wedlock are far more likely to be poor, suffer ill health, drop out of school. In the case of boys, they are twice as likely to commit a crime, lead to incarceration by the time they reach their early 30s. STDs have reached epidemic proportions in our country, placing the health and lives of sexually active young people in serious peril. In fact, in the 1960s, one in 47 sexually active teenagers were infected with an STD. Today it is not one out of 47, it is one out of 4. Young people need to know that having sexual relations puts them at risk not only for HIV/AIDS but also herpes, which is obviously incurable, and may affect babies during birth, resulting in severe damage or death. Teens need to know they are at risk for human papillomavirus, PHV, which is the leading viral STD and which causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer, and they need to know that scientific research shows that condom use offers relatively little protection from herpes and no protection from HPV. Abstinence education programs provide the right information. Too many of our kids' dreams have been cut short by poor decisions that dramatically alter the course of their lives. Abstinence education programs give our young both the inspiration and education that they need to make good, healthful decisions. Our young people look to us for clear messages and for help in setting high standards for themselves. Abstinence education programs will, in fact, give them that help. I would yield to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Sullivan).

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma for his great statement, and I would yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), my friend and colleague, and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, who helped carry the abstinence reauthorization through the committee last week.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for participating again tonight and for his leadership, which was certainly appreciated last week in committee. Next I would like to yield to my friend, a member of the subcommittee that I chair, the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry).

Mr. UPTON. Actually passed it four times.

Mr. UPTON. That is right.

Mr. UPTON. Absolutely it is. That is why we had a very strong bipartisan vote last week to get this plan adopted. I think it was 35 to 17 in the committee. We look forward to having it on the floor for debate and a vote as early as next week as part of the welfare reform reauthorization bill.

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of my special order just given.

Mr. UPTON

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, I offer amendment No. 1.

Mr. UPTON. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I urge adoption of the amendment.

Mr. UPTON. I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.