Congressional Record
107th Congress (2001-2002)
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BETTER EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS ACT -- (Senate - May 17, 2001)
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The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate will now resume consideration of S. 1, which the clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1) to extend programs and activities under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Pending:
Jeffords amendment No. 358, in the nature of a substitute.
Kennedy (for Dodd) amendment No. 382 (to amendment No. 358), to remove the 21st century community learning center program from the list of programs covered by performance agreements.
Biden amendment No. 386 (to amendment No. 358), to establish school-based partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and local school systems, by providing
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Voinovich amendment No. 389 (to amendment No. 358), to modify provisions relating to State applications and plans and school improvement to provide for the input of the Governor of the State involved.
Reed amendment No. 425 (to amendment No. 358), to revise provisions regarding the Reading First Program.
Leahy (for Hatch) amendment No. 424 (to amendment No. 358), to provide for the establishment of additional Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Helms amendment No. 574 (to amendment No. 358), to prohibit the use of Federal funds by any State or local educational agency or school that discriminates against the Boy Scouts of America in providing equal access to school premises or facilities.
Helms amendment No. 648 (to amendment No. 574), in the nature of a substitute.
Dorgan amendment No. 640 (to amendment No. 358), expressing the sense of the Senate that there should be established a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives to investigate the rapidly increasing energy prices across the country and to determine what is causing the increases.
Wellstone/Feingold amendment No. 465 (to amendment No. 358), to improve the provisions relating to assessment completion bonuses.
Voinovich amendment No. 443 (to amendment No. 358), to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend loan forgiveness for certain loans to Head Start teachers.
Dayton modified amendment No. 622 (to amendment No. 358), to amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to fully fund 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure for programs under part B of such Act.
Hutchinson modified amendment No. 555 (to amendment No. 358), to express the sense of the Senate regarding the Department of Education program to promote access of Armed Forces recruiters to student directory information.
Bond modified amendment No. 476 (to amendment No. 358), to strengthen early childhood parent education programs.
Feinstein modified amendment No. 369 (to amendment No. 358), to specify the purposes for which funds provided under subpart 1 of part A of title I may be used.
AMENDMENT NO. 622
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. As I understand it, we have 3 minutes; is that correct?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
Mr. KENNEDY. I would like to reserve 30 seconds of the time and have 2 and a half minutes for the Senator from Minnesota.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Each side has 1 and a half minutes.
Mr. KENNEDY. I would like to then give 1 minute of my time to the Senator from Minnesota.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there will now be 3 minutes of explanation prior to the vote on or in relation to the Dayton amendment No. 622.
The Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. DAYTON. I thank the Chair.
I thank the Senator from Massachusetts who long before I came to this body was championing the cause of American schoolchildren, and also his colleague, the chairman of the committee, the Senator from Vermont, and the Senators from Iowa and Nebraska, who coauthored the earlier IDEA amendment. I just want to take their excellent idea and make it even better.
My amendment would accelerate their timetable and mandate 40-percent Federal funding for the cost of special education in 2 years instead of waiting for 6 years. Why? Because this promise was made 25 years ago when the Federal mandates under IDEA were enacted.
Congress then promised the State and local school districts that the Federal Government would pay for 40 percent of their costs. A quarter century later, Federal funding for special education costs average 12 percent nationwide, only 9 percent in my home state of Minnesota. That broken promise affects every schoolchild and every school in Minnesota and, I expect, our entire country. Since every school must provide special education services to every child who needs them, those missing dollars must, in Minnesota, be taken away from other funding for regular education programs. Every student in Minnesota gets shortchanged because the Federal Government has not kept its promise.
Now, I'm told that I may be asked: Where will this money come from? Well, Mr. President, I'm a brand new Senator, and this is my very first amendment to come up for a vote on the Senate floor. So, I'll admit my ignorance. But, I cannot for the life of me, figure out how, in a budget which projects a $5.6 trillion surplus during the next ten years--$2.1 trillion for so-called discretionary spending--there isn't enough money for special education.
Later today, I'm told, we'll be voting on a $1.35 trillion tax cut. Where will that money come from? From the American taxpayers, obviously. So, I'm willing to ask the American Taxpayer, are you willing to share this surplus with American's neediest children? I'm confident that, in Minnesota, the answer would be an overwhelming ``Yes.'' Yes, there is enough money available to us for tax reduction and funding for special education.
To the Members of the Senate today, and to the House and Senate conferees: Can't you find room in your hearts and in your budget to fulfill a twenty-five year broken promise to the children of America with disabilities and with special needs. And to the dedicated teachers who devote their lives to reaching and teaching them.
We have the money to fund this commitment. This is not a budget decision. This is a values decision. This is a priorities decision.
If we aren't willing to finally fulfill a twenty-five year broken promise to America's school children with a small part of a $5.6 trillion surplus, then we have no one to blame, but ourselves.
Mr. President, I urge adoption of my amendment.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time of the Senator has expired.
Mr. DAYTON. I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I regret that I will have to oppose the amendment by Senator Dayton. I agree with the intent--to fully fund IDEA as quickly as possible--but it does it too quickly and undermines the Hagel-Harkin amendment that was already passed on this bill. The Hagel-Harkin amendment provides the full funding in 6 years. That is a reasonable yet ambitious timeframe, and it has bipartisan support.
I commend Senator Dayton for his dedication to provide full funding, but I don't think it can be done in 2 years, so I will oppose the amendment in order to preserve the bipartisan commitment to fully fund IDEA in 6 years as passed in the Hagel-Harkin amendment.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, the Senator from Minnesota returns us to a very important issue that we discussed at some length at the outset of the bill before us. Like the Hagel-Harkin amendment which was adopted and incorporated as part of the pending substitute, the amendment would convert the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to a mandatory spending program.
Unlike the amendment we adopted 2 weeks ago, the Dayton amendment would provide for full funding of IDEA in 2 years. While I fully support that goal, I believe it is too ambitious a timetable.
As we have seen in vote after vote over the past 2 weeks, the Senate believes there are several important funding priorities in education ahead. Neither the budget we adopted nor any budget we are likely to adopt in the future can accommodate the increase the Senator seeks. Yet at the same time we need to fulfill our commitment to fully fund IDEA, we also need to meet our obligation under title I for teacher training, recruitment, and retention, for afterschool care, early education, and a host of other priorities.
So while I support the goal, I think the path taken by the Hagel-Harkin amendment is more reasonable and still very ambitious. I believe we can keep it, and I urge my colleagues to vote against the Dayton amendment.
I yield back the remainder of my time.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Georgia (Mr. CLELAND) is necessarily absent.
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The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 34, nays 65, as follows:
Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Boxer
Breaux
Cantwell
Clinton
Conrad
Corzine
Daschle
Dayton
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Feinstein
Hollings
Inouye
Johnson
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sarbanes
Schumer
Stabenow
Torricelli
Wellstone
Allard
Allen
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Carnahan
Carper
Chafee
Cochran
Collins
Craig
Crapo
DeWine
Domenici
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Fitzgerald
Frist
Graham
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Miller
Murkowski
Nelson (NE)
Nickles
Roberts
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Voinovich
Warner
Wyden
Cleland
The amendment (No. 622) was rejected.
Mr. KENNEDY. Could we have order, Mr. President? We have another amendment now that we intend to vote on. There is a brief moment or two of explanation, and I think the Members should have the opportunity to listen to the proponents of it. Could we have order?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate will be in order. Senators please take their conversations off the floor.
AMENDMENT NO. 443
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there will now be 3 minutes for explanation prior to a vote on or in relation to the Voinovich amendment No. 443.
The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, according to the experts, focusing on the earliest years of a child's life can make the greatest difference in that child's development and learning. One program we all know that makes a difference is Head Start.
In my State, we think so much of Head Start, that when I left office as Governor, Ohio was the only State in the Nation where every eligible child whose parents wanted them to be in the program had a slot open to them.
Unfortunately, Head Start programs typically have a hard time recruiting teachers with a bachelor's or a master's degree generally because of the pay differential between Head Start teachers and elementary and secondary school teachers.
For example, in Ohio today, only 11.3 percent of Head Start teachers have a bachelor's degree. Nationally, it is 22 percent. That needs to change.
The amendment Senator Feinstein and I have offered is designed to encourage college students working on a bachelor's or a master's degree to become a Head Start teacher.
In exchange for a 5-year teaching commitment in a qualified Head Start program, a college graduate with a bachelor's degree or a master's degree could have up to $5,000 of their Federal student loan waived.
President Bush has pledged to improve the cognitive components of Head Start, and to do that, we have to have better teachers.
Hopefully, the $5,000 incentive in our amendment will help us reach the President's goal of no child left behind.
I urge my colleagues to support our amendment.
I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from California.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California is recognized.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to co-sponsor this amendment with Senators VOINOVICH, BAUCUS, COCHRAN, LANDRIEU, MURRAY, and CORZINE.
This amendment is simple. We are merely trying to expand the current Federal loan forgiveness program to include Head Start teachers. Elementary and secondary school teachers currently benefit under the Federal loan forgiveness program. We think that Head Start teachers should be afforded the same opportunity.
In exchange for 5 years of teaching, Head Start teachers could have up to $5,000 of their Federal student loans forgiven. By offering Head Start teachers the same loan forgiveness benefit, I believe, we will encourage more college graduates to enter the field.
New educational requirements were included in the 1998 reauthorization of the Head Start Program. By 2003, 50 percent of Head Start teachers will be required to have an associate or 2-year degree, a bachelor's, or an advanced degree.
How can we ask low-paid Head Start teachers to go back to school to finish their bachelor's degree or college students to enter the field if we cannot even offer them the same loan forgiveness already afforded to elementary and secondary school teachers?
Head Start is one of the most important Federal programs because it has the potential to reach children early in their formative years when their cognitive skills are just developing.
I believe we must continue to improve the cognitive learning aspects of the Head Start program so that children leave the program able to count to ten, to recognize sizes and colors, and to recite the alphabet. To ensure cognitive learning, we must continue to raise the standards for Head Start teachers.
Offering Head Start teachers similar compensation for their educational achievements and expenses afforded to other teachers is one step to encouraging collage graduates to become Head Start teachers.
I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, I rise today to applaud the Senator from Ohio for his recognition of the need to provide incentives to attract individuals to the worthy cause of teaching in the critical early years of learning. As Senator Kennedy has already noted, we have over 100 amendments filed to this legislation which are not germane. While I support many of these amendments, including the Voinovich amendment on loan forgiveness for Head Start teachers, I think that it is important that the Senate stay focused on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. I look forward to debating and supporting the Senator from Ohio during the debate on the reauthorization of the Head Start Program. However, today I will lend my support to Senator Kennedy's efforts to keep this education bill from languishing under the load of nongermane amendments.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I am going to support this amendment as an amendment on the reauthorization of the Head Start bill. Currently, we are providing loan forgiveness now for elementary and secondary teachers when they go into underserved areas. We also had an offset on that. This amendment does not have an offset. We ought to have an offset. It ought to be on the Head Start bill.
Also, we are trying to keep only germane amendments in this bill. This is not germane. We have 100 amendments which are not germane, many of which I will agree with. But on this particular occasion, I hope this will not be accepted.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I agree with the statement just made by my friend from Massachusetts.
Senator VOINOVICH has been a leader--both as Governor and as a Senator--in recognizing the critical need to improve the quality of the care and education we provide to our youngest children. The amendment he offers with Senator FEINSTEIN would address this vital issue.
My colleagues are absolutely correct that the key to a child's achievement in elementary school is found in the years prior to going to school, especially at ages 3 and 4.
But as I mentioned 2 days ago during the debate on another amendment, I have agreed to oppose amendments to this bill that are not directly relevant, and, therefore, I must reluctantly oppose Senator VOINOVICH's amendment.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, have the yeas and nays been ordered on the amendment?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The yeas and nays have been ordered.
The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 443.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
The result was announced--yeas 76, nays 24, as follows:
Akaka
Allard
Allen
Baucus
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Cantwell
Carnahan
Carper
Chafee
Cleland
Clinton
Cochran
Conrad
Corzine
Daschle
Dayton
DeWine
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Feinstein
Fitzgerald
Graham
Gramm
Grassley
Harkin
Hatch
Hollings
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Johnson
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Lincoln
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Miller
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Santorum
Sarbanes
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Thompson
Torricelli
Voinovich
Warner
Wellstone
Bayh
Bond
Byrd
Campbell
Collins
Craig
Crapo
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Frist
Gregg
Hagel
Helms
Hutchinson
Jeffords
Kennedy
Kyl
Lieberman
Lott
Nickles
Thomas
Thurmond
Wyden
The amendment (No. 443) was agreed to.
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