Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004-Continued

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004—CONTINUED

Mr. DURBIN. I would like to ask this question: Is it not true that since President Bush took office we have lost 3.3 million private-sector jobs in America, more jobs lost than any President since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression, and that 75 percent of the jobs lost have been manufacturing jobs and good paying jobs across America? Despite the fact that manufacturing jobs account for less than 14 percent of our private-sector economy, 75 percent of the private-sector job loss has been in manufacturing jobs. These jobs have been lost to Third World countries—China and other nations.

Is it not also true that this proposal to cut overtime and basically defy the sacred 40-hour workweek would result in the importation of Third World wage standards into the United States? It is bad enough that we have lost millions of jobs to the
Third World and overseas. Is this proposal by the Bush administration adding insult to injury by bringing those Third
World work standards to America's families we honored with that resolution last Friday?

Mr. DASCHLE. I am afraid the Senator from Illinois is exactly right. This is a license to import Third World wage standards into the United States—to turn the clock back 65 years. That is exactly what we are doing. We are telling the workers that you are not only not going to get overtime, but this is just the beginning. If they get away with this, where does it end?

The Senator is right about unemployment, whether the number is 2.7 million or 3.3 million. There were 93,000 last month alone.

The situation is going from bad to worse. We are not only losing jobs, but those who have jobs are losing pay. As the Senator from Illinois said so well, we are importing Third World standards on those wages as a result of these proposed regulations.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I congratulate my colleague, Senator Murray, for speaking on the overtime amendment offered by Senator Harkin, and Senator Robert Byrd for speaking on his amendment involving funding the President's mandate, the No Child Left Behind legislation. I address both of those issues for a moment.

First, I say to the Senator from Washington, what she has outlined in her State can be repeated in virtually every State across America. For the last several years, we have seen a loss of jobs in America virtually unprecedented in recent history.
In fact, you have to go back so far as President Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression to find a time when America has lost as many jobs as we have lost since President Bush took office. Remember, in the preceding 8 years we created 22 million new jobs in America, but since President George W. Bush has taken office we have lost almost 3 million jobs. This is a modern record, a sad record felt in every State, my own included.

I have also been told that some 90 percent of the jobs we have lost have been manufacturing jobs, jobs which have been lost to Third World countries, countries such as China, that have taken away the manufacturing jobs that used to be the bread and butter for the communities of America. They are leaving in droves. Since President Bush took office we have lost 120,000 manufacturing jobs in Illinois. In the last 5 years, we have lost one out of every five manufacturing jobs, and there is no end in sight.

I held a press bipartisan conference today with some of my colleagues who decried the current situation in China where they are sucking away all of our jobs because of currency manipulation. The point is that will be addressed in another bill.

In this bill, we have to be concerned not with the exodus of American jobs to Third World countries but the immigration of
Third World labor standards into the United States. The Bush administration, through the Department of Labor, is establishing a standard which says that some 8 to 10 million workers in America will no longer qualify for overtime pay.
Those included in that group, as we have heard from my colleagues on the floor, are firefighters, nurses, many who have important jobs in communities related to health and safety. The Bush administration has said they will not be entitled to overtime in the future.

Those with a sense of history can remember from our history courses and our readings how many lives were lost in
America in the establishment of the labor movement to fight for one particular thing: the 40-hour workweek. This was,
frankly, one of the most contentious issues. We finally said, as a matter of law in America, businesses could only work their employees 40 hours a week or they would have to pay time and a half for the extra time. That was a bitter battle that went on for decades with a lot of bloodshed and lives lost because of social upheaval as workers across America spoke out for their rights. But eventually it was established. The 40-hour workweek in America became a sacred precept, not just in collective bargaining contracts but as well in legislation, to apply to everyone. The understanding was that beyond 40 hours you would have to pay extra.

What is the basis for it? Certainly so the workers' rights would be respected. It would lessen exploitation. It would say to the employer, if you are going to work someone beyond 40 hours, that certainly is a physical impediment, one that could be a hardship, as well as a family hardship, and you should pay more for it.

Now comes the Bush administration saying it is family friendly and eliminating the right to overtime pay for 8 to 10 million Americans. It could not come at a worse time. It could not be a worse idea.

Senator Harkin of Iowa offers an amendment which my friends on the other side of the aisle are afraid we will call for a vote on, an amendment that says we will not allow the Department of Labor to go forward with this bad idea.

I totally support the Harkin amendment. We need to protect the rights of workers in America today, rights that have been fought for decades, over a century of effort by men and women to bring dignity to the workplaces under assault because of
this proposal from the Bush administration.

Let me say a word about the Byrd amendment before the Senate. Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia has offered an amendment which basically says to the President: Keep your word. Keep your word.

When this President came to office as the education president, he said: I am going to bring Democrats and Republicans together. He turned to my friend and colleague behind me, Senator Kennedy, and said: Join me in passing the No Child Left
Behind legislation. Let's do it right. Let's do it in a bipartisan fashion.

Senator Kennedy joined him, as did Congressman George Miller of California, in a bipartisan effort, supported by many, including myself. No Child Left Behind demanded accountability in schools but said if the children are having a tough time passing the test, we want to provide extra resources to school districts across America so the test scores will improve.

Resources for title I is a program where school districts directly help students and their families, students who are falling behind. The amount that was to be authorized for this was spelled out in law, written down and approved by the President, signed into law, and No Child Left Behind went into effect.

Across America, public schools are bound by the requirements and mandates of No Child Left Behind. But, unfortunately, when it came to President Bush's budget, he failed to appropriate the funds necessary to pay for this mandate. So the mandate goes unfunded at the local level.

I don't know about the States of my colleagues but I can speak about Illinois. We are in a terrible fiscal crisis. We had to cut $5 billion in State funds this year—a very difficult thing to do—and our schools have suffered in the process. For us now to say that this Federal mandate of No Child Left Behind is not going to be funded as President Bush promised means that the President is not keeping his word to the schoolchildren and families of America.

Senator Byrd's amendment says to the President: Keep your word. Find the $6 billion you promised to send to these school districts.

I happen to think Senator Byrd is right. I am happy to be a cosponsor of his amendment. We cannot at this point in time establish new mandates and new responsibilities on school districts across America struggling to survive and not provide the resources.

In my home State of Illinois, almost half of the school districts are now in desperate financial straits. In the city of Elgin, IL, a growth area in my State, they appropriated funds 2 years ago to build four new schools that were to be open this fall when school opened. Sadly, the Elgin School District does not have the resources to open the schools. They cannot afford the teachers. They cannot afford the overhead costs. The four brandnew school buildings sit vacant, an indication of how difficult it is to fund education at the local level in the midst of a recession, in the midst of a situation when State budgets are struggling to find balance.

That is a compelling argument for us to keep our word, to make certain that school districts across America have the money to help the kids improve their test scores, improve their education, become better readers, understand math and science, and improve as students. Unless and until we do that, we have no business mandating on these school districts that they have to start transporting students across school district lines and all of the other penalties associated with No Child Left Behind.

Let's pass the Byrd amendment. Let's keep our word to the schoolchildren across America, even if the Bush budget does not.

The last point I make is an amendment which I plan to offer at the first opportunity. Again, it relates to a promise made by
President Bush. I was at the State of the Union Message, as most Members of the Senate attended, just a few months back.
I listened carefully as the President made a pledge on behalf of the people of the United States. It was historic in terms of its commitment. The President said: We in the United States would lead the world in battling the global AIDS epidemic.
President Bush said to standing, thunderous ovation from both sides of the aisle that he was pledging $15 billion a year over the next 5 years to fight the scourge of HIV and AIDS around the world. It was the right thing to do. The President was showing the leadership, which we expect of him, and leadership which makes all of us proud as Americans. Frankly, most of us believed at that point the deal was cut, that from that point forward no questions would be asked.

Now look at the bill before us and what do you find? Do you find that the $15 billion over 5 years results in $3 billion in spending in the next year, as one might expect? No. Scarcely $2 billion will be available—$2 billion to meet a $3 billion commitment.

There have been many serious casualties in Iraq. We have lost many lives. Many of our service men and women have been injured. But now we are dealing with the other Iraqi casualties—funding for our schools, funding for the global AIDS epidemic.

The President again must be held to the standard that he set, the standard of American leadership around the world in dealing with the global AIDS epidemic. I certainly hope my colleagues, many of whom voted for the resolution offered by
JEFF BINGAMAN, the Senator from New Mexico, a few weeks ago—I think there were over 80 votes in favor of it, and we said we should put $3 billion in the budget this year for the global AIDS epidemic. I hope they will support my amendment which I hope I can offer later today or the first thing tomorrow, because in that amendment we will be able to keep our word.

Recently, in the Chicago Tribune, there was an editorial. This editorial suggested that this is a key floor vote on whether we are going to implement President Bush's bold $15 billion 5-year plan to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. The Tribune went on to say:

The vote will go a long way toward determining if the U.S. will keep its promise to lead the world in the fight against AIDS.

That noble pledge seems to be wilting under the heat of other budget pressures. Bush has lobbied Congress for no more than $2 billion for the first year. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria would be particularly hard-hit by the reduced commitment.

They go on to say, my colleague from Illinois, Representative Henry Hyde, in the House:

    .    .    . secured approval for legislation specifying that $2 billion, plus an additional $1 billion for the Global Fund, would be disbursed each year, rather than "backloading" the money into later years.

Make no mistake, the AIDS epidemic is upon us. Every year we delay, every dollar we delay will increase the number of deaths and hardships and orphans created by this terrible disease. We have an opportunity to do something significant in terms of the global AIDS epidemic, in terms of our Nation's commitment, in terms of what President Bush has said he would do as our leader in this country. But we need to follow through. Let's not look for excuses. Let's, instead, look for the opportunity to lead, which is before us today.

 I encourage my colleagues to join on these three amendments by supporting TOM HARKIN to stop the overtime pay change, which the Bush administration is pushing; secondly, to support Senator ROBERT BYRD, who has said the
President must keep his word to fund the mandate which he has sent to public schools across America; and again, in my amendment, to offer the $3 billion to a world desperately in need of our help to deal with the global AIDS epidemic.

We can do this. We can keep our word. We can show the leadership that the President has promised.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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AMENDMENT NO. 1591 TO AMENDMENT NO. 1542

Mr. DURBIN. At the conclusion of my remarks, I will offer an amendment which I understand will be fourth in order for voting tonight.

I rise today to offer an amendment to fulfill our pledge to the millions of people around the world, in Africa in particular, who suffer from HIV/AIDS.

AIDS is fast becoming the worst plague the world has ever endured. Already, 25 million people have been killed by the disease. These charts have been provided to us by the United Nations World Health Organization. If we will look at these startling numbers, they indicate the number of adults and children newly infected with HIV during the year 2002: 3.5 million in sub-Saharan Africa; 700,000 in South and Southeast Asia; 270,000 in East Asia; 150,000 in Latin America; 250,000 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The numbers of newly infected people last year are truly startling.

Take a look at those who are living with HIV/AIDS at the end of the year 2002: 29.4 million in sub-Saharan Africa; 1.2 million in East Asia; 6 million in South and Southeast Asia; 1.2 million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; almost a million in North America. The numbers are startling.

Then, of course, the mortality tables really tell an equally sad story. The estimated adult and child deaths from HIV/AIDS during the year 2002: 2.4 million in Africa. I know what happens when these numbers are read. Eyes glaze over, minds turn numb, and one thinks, I cannot calculate all of these numbers.

If you had been there, as I and so many of my colleagues have been, to meet with the families who are infected, who understand that they have a death sentence from HIV/AIDS, families who show extraordinary courage every single day getting up and doing their work, realizing they will never be able to afford the medicine necessary to prolong their life, families trying to keep it together with their children for that last moment, realizing their time will soon come, you would never ever forget it.

The statistics, as I said, may be something that numbs our mind but, frankly, for those who seen it firsthand, as I have, they will never forget it. As parents are dying, 14 million AIDS orphans have been left without the care and support they need. Unless we act soon, there will be 25 million AIDS orphans. Each year, the world loses a population greater than the city of Chicago because of AIDS.

We know how to stop the deaths. In his State of the Union Address, President Bush made a 5-year pledge of $15 billion to help millions of AIDS sufferers in Africa and around the world in fighting the AIDS epidemic. Listen to what he said:

We can turn our eyes away in resignation and despair, or we can take decisive, historic action to turn the tide against this disease and give hope of life to millions who need our help.

Unfortunately, the President's solid and courageous rhetoric was not backed up by his own budget request. His budget this year falls nearly $1 billion short of the $3 billion for the coming year that is needed to meet the 5-year $15 billion pledge.

Sadly, the President's shortchanging on AIDS will cost lives. The additional $1 billion we seek to restore today will put 1
million people on treatment and prevent 2.5 million new infections.

In July of this year, Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, a real leader on this issue, asked us to enact a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to tell the world, listening carefully to what we have to say on this issue, what we believe. Senator
Bingaman offered a very courageous resolution, as follows:

It is the sense of Congress that Congress, when considering appropriations Acts for fiscal year 2004, should fully appropriate all the amounts authorized for appropriation in the Act, even to the extent that appropriating such amounts will require Congress to appropriate amounts over and above the funding levels in the Concurrent Resolution on the
Budget. .    .    .

Senator Bingaman said we should put $3 billion into this fight on AIDS as we promised, and he said we should do it even if it violates the budget resolution.

What happened to Senator Bingaman's resolution? It passed with 78 Members voting in favor of the resolution.

The Members who stood up and said they are prepared to vote for $3 billion to fight the global AIDS epidemic include the chairman of the subcommittee on appropriations which brings this bill to the floor, Senator Specter of Pennsylvania; the
Republican majority leader, Senator Frist, his assistant leader, Senator McConnell of Kentucky; as well as the Presiding
Officer from Georgia. All of these Senators and many more voted in favor of this resolution, saying they were prepared to stand up and vote for $3 billion to fight for AIDS. In just a few minutes, they are going to have that chance. They will be able to demonstrate to the world that what they voted for in the Bingaman amendment was more than just posing for holy pictures, that they were in fact prepared to cast the vote even if it broke the budget resolution because the AIDS epidemic was that powerful and that overwhelming.

With those 78 votes, this Durbin amendment should pass easily. Maybe I do not even need to complete my speech, but on the off chance that some of my colleagues might be thinking of changing their minds—having voted for the Bingaman resolution and now given a chance to actually vote for the money, decide they want to vote the other way—let me tell them why they should not. Remember what the President himself said:

We care more about results than words. We're interested in lives saved.

Now is our opportunity to go beyond words and fulfill the pledge the President made in his State of the Union Address and the pledge we made in the Senate this last July. Keeping our promise and fighting against AIDS is in America's interest. AIDS is not just a humanitarian crisis, it is a security crisis. Living up to President Bush's promise on AIDS is important for showing the world we will keep our commitments.

As the CIA Director recently said when asked is AIDS a security issue, Director Tenet said: You bet it is. With more than 40 million people infected right now, a figure that by 2010 may reach 100 million, AIDS is building dangerous momentum in regions beyond Africa. As this disease spreads, it unravels social structures, decimates populations, and destabilizes nations around the world.

The National Intelligence Council found that in five of the world's most populous nations, the number of HIV-infected people will grow to an estimated 50 million to 75 million by the year 2010.

AIDS is particularly devastating to national armies around the world that ensure the stability of their nations. In South Africa, according to the Rand Institute, some military units have infection rates as high as 90 percent. Keeping our promise on AIDS to the world is not only the compassionate thing to do, it is the smart thing to do in terms of national security as well.

Today, we have a chance to change the course of the AIDS pandemic by providing $3 billion, as promised, in the next fiscal year. The amendment I am putting forward would close the gap between the rhetoric of our promise in the State of the Union Address and our 78 votes on the Senate floor and the real needs of AIDS sufferers by fully funding the $3 billion.
The amendment provides $939.7 million to close the gap and fully fund this $3 billion pledge.

The stakes could not be higher. Let me quote Majority Leader Frist who said recently:

History will judge whether a world led by America stood by and let transpire one of the greatest destructions of human life in recorded history or performed one of its most heroic rescues.

Senator Frist is right. In just a few moments, with the Durbin amendment, on a bipartisan basis, we can say to the world we will not stand idly by and make budgetary excuses about an epidemic that threatens our world; we will come to the rescue as we promised.

Instead of fulfilling this pledge, unfortunately, the White House is claiming that the full amount cannot be spent in the next year. All the leading development organizations and medical authorities have rejected this White House claim. This week in
Roll Call, a newspaper on Capitol Hill, all—and I underline "all"—of the leading relief and development organizations in the United States placed an ad endorsing the fact that the full $3 billion could be well spent. Don't fall for the argument: That $3 billion, they won't know what to do with it.

The fact is, there are ample opportunities to stop the spread of AIDS right now. There are not enough funds available, and $2 billion does not meet the global need. By putting in the full $3 billion we promised, we will save lives. By not appropriating that money, lives will be lost, more people affected, and more AIDS orphans to populate this troubled world.

The White House is also ignoring the capacity of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria, the most effective tool we have to beat AIDS. The Global Fund that is chaired by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a member of
President Bush's Cabinet, Secretary Tommy Thompson, is scaling up successful programs on the ground in Africa and is working to stop the wave of the pandemic in India. It needs hundreds of millions of dollars this fall to fund the grant applications which they know will work to slow down the spread of AIDS.

The White House should not forget the extraordinary needs of AIDS orphans. According to a soon-to-be-released report by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, orphans and vulnerable children need $15 billion each year for basic health, education, and community services. The Global HIV Prevention Group found that AIDS prevention spending falls $3.8 billion short of what is needed by 2005. Although we can spare the lives of babies with AIDS for the price of a Sunday newspaper in the United States, only 5 percent of the women at risk have access to medication to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

I say to my 78 colleagues who voted for the Bingaman amendment just a few weeks ago, understanding that to meet the $3 billion funding request might cause us to go beyond the allowed amounts in the budget resolution, you, including my friend from Pennsylvania, who is the chairman of this subcommittee, voted in the affirmative and said you understood the seriousness of this challenge. You were prepared to take an extraordinary step on the floor of the Senate for an extraordinary challenge which faces the world.

Have they forgotten? Will the rollcall reflect political amnesia on the part of my colleagues or will they stand strong and stand tall for the position that they took not that long ago when we voted on this Bingaman amendment just a few weeks back?

I hope they will join me and commit to fully funding the $3 billion to fight AIDS. We have a unique chance to change the future and save lives. It is in our hands.

Today, a 15-year-old boy in Botswana faces an 80-percent chance of dying of AIDS. I have been to Botswana. This wonderful country unfortunately has a clouded future because of the specter of AIDS which hangs over it today. If we act now, we can change the future for these children before it is too late. I beg my colleagues in the Senate, please look beyond the sterility of this budget resolution. Look in your heart and realize, as Senator Frist has said, we cannot stand idly by. We cannot make procedural arguments. We cannot find any comfort or refuge in some procedural element that suggests maybe we can't afford it. We know better.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, my colleagues will remember the President's State of the Union Address, during which $15 billion over 5 years was pledged to fight global AIDS.

This bill only provides $2 billion. When Senator Bingaman offered his amendment on the floor on July 10, by a vote of 78 to 18, we said we want it to be $3 billion regardless of the budget resolution; 45 Democrats and 33 Republicans voted for $3 billion in spending. It can be spent. Every major organization has come forward and said the need is there, the need is now.

To my friends on the other side of the aisle, including the chairman of the subcommittee, who voted for the Bingaman resolution, if 33 Republicans will step forward today as they did July 10 for the same proposition, we guarantee our 45 Democratic votes will be there with you. Let's pass this resolution and keep our promise to fight the global war on AIDS. Stand behind President Bush's promise of $3 billion.