forces into the isf?

mr. rkin: mr. president, around this chamber i see men men of remarkable talents and abilities and i have a strong sense, we all do, that there is tremendous voidow in our

midst. a very special senator, a very special friend, a member who play a unique role within this body for nearly half a century is no longer wit us. we've her many glowing and richly earned contribute outs to senator ted kennedy the last cole of weeks. he was not only the most accomplished senator of t last 50 years but truly one of the towering figures in the entire history of the united states senate. t for all his accomplishments, for all the historic bills he authored and shepherded into law, forll the battles he fought, i will remember today first and foremost as just a good and decent human being. i remember his extraorna generosity, his courage, his passion, his capacity for iendship and caring and,f

course, that great sense of humor. i remember one time i was in my office and we h a phone conversation. it was about a disagreement we had. and it was right at st. patrick's day and so we were having this discussion on the phone a tempers got a little heated. i think i was holding the phone out about like this and he probably was, too. i think thursday voices god -- i think our voices got raised and we were yelling at each oer d pretty soon we just hung up on each other. well, i felt very badly about this and i know he did, too, so several hours later i came on the floor and i sad ted at his desk and went up to him and

pulled up the chairext to him and he had kind of a pixie smile onis face, that twinkle in his eye and i said, ted, i sorry about that conversation we had, i shodn't have lost my temper like iid and he saw, i sad my staff is a little concerned about our relationship. and he sort of got that great smile and chuckled a said, i just told mytaff that' just the two irish men celebrate st. patrick's day. that's just the way he was. he could disa disarm you immediy and you move on. he had a great, great disarming sens of humanerã ted came from a remarkable family. so many tough breaks. so my triumphs. soany contributions to our nation.

both in war andn peace. ted and his siblings were born to gatealth and they could have lived lives of luxury and leisure but chose instead to devote themsels to publi service. they devoted themselves to making the world a better place for others especially those in the shadows of life. and there are so man thing i cod focusn this morning in my brief remarks, but i want to focus on just one aspect of ted kennedy. that is all that he did to improve the lives of people with disabiliti in our country. i thought about this with the death of eunice kennedy shriver on august 1 and she founded the special olympics and the death of ted on august 25th people with disabilities in this country lost two great champions.

their sister rosemary had a severe intellectual disability. the entire kennedy famy is acquainted with the joys and struggles of thoseith disabilities. and those of us who aren the church in boston at the funeral and those who probably watching on televisn heard the elgquent speech by teddyr. and his battle with cancer at a young age and losing his leg and his confronting has disabilities and how ted held him get through that. in 1975, senator kennedy helped to pass the individuals with disabilities education act, i.d. in 1978 he passed the legislatn expanding the jurisdiction of the civil rights commission to protect people from discrimation on the basis of disability. in 1980 he introduced the civil ghts for institutionalized rson act protectinghe

rights of people in government institutions including the elderly and those with mental disabilities. and 19 year ago he was one of my most important leaders and partners in patsing the americans with disa-in passing americans with disabilities act in 1990. afr i had been in the senate for two years, replicans were in charge. in 1986,he democrats came back and took crge and senator kennedy wants me on his education and health committee. well, i sort of played hard to get. i said, well, maybe, but, i am really interested inisability res and he knew about that a knew about the work i had done in the house before i came here especially on people with hearin problems. and i said, i would like to come on his committee but i said i would be interested in working

on disabity issues. and he got back to me said, i have the disability policy subcommittee and you can arity. i'm a freshman senator. i didn't have to -- he didn't have to do that for me. i was astounded at this. this great generosity. and so i've always appreciated that. he had already had this great extensive record on disability issues yet he let me take the lead and when the americans with disabilities act act came up, he could have taken that. he was the chairman of the committee and he had this lost history championing the caus of pple wit disabilities and yet he knew how passionately i felt aboutt and he let me author the bill. he lete take it on the floor. he let me be the floor manager of it and put my name on it.

he didn't have to do that. he was the chairman. he could have had his name on it. he could have floor managed it. he let me do it. in spite of the fact i was just a freshman senator. and he was just an indispensable leader if bringing disparate groups togher toet the american with disabilities act passed. i will nerorget that great act of generosity on his part in letting me take the leadn it. ted always insiste our fus should not be on disability but ability that pple with disabilities muste fully included in our american family. so americans with disabilities had no better friendship, no tougher fighter and no more relentless champion than ted kennedy. yesterday, i accepted the chairmanship of the senate "help" committee, the health, education, labor and pensis

commite. it is a good honor and a great challenge. i must add, somewhat dauntin carrying on the legacy of stick sterk. -- the legacy of stick sterk. he secured -- he wanted all citizens to have th care as a right, not a privilege. in the democratic cloakroom there is page from the cape cod tes, a wonderful picture of ted and a quote from him. here's the quote: "since i was a y i have known the joy of sailing the waters of cape cod. for all my years in public life i have believed that america must sail towd the shores of liberty and justice f all. there is no end to tha that jou,

only the next great voyage." well, mr. p heard many eloquent tributes t senator kennedy but the tribute that would matter most to him would be for his colleagues to come together on @ bartisan basis to pass a strong comprehensive health carreform bill this year. it is time for us to sail ahead on this nt great voyage to a better and morjust and more caring america. so as we sadly contemplatehe empty desk draped in black, we say "farewell" to a beloved colleague. he's no longer with us. but his work continues. his spirit is her and as he said, t cause endures. may ted kennedy rt in peace.

but may we not rest until we have completed the cause of his life, the cause he fought for until his last breath ensuring quality, affordable health care for every american. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: dhe senator from south carolina. mr. graham: it is my understanding that we are goingt senator lautenberg know i will not take long, if that's appropriate. but today is a day to remember a colleague, a friend, someone who it was a challenge to oppose and a y to work with. and i wish we weren't here today talking about the passin passinf senator kennedy. we disagreed on most things but found common ground on big

things. and evyone has got atory about senatorennedy. there's beea lot of discussion about his life, the legacy, his failings, his human failings, which we all have, his self-ilicted wound and his contribution to the cntry. but i want to talkbout what we'll be missing in the senate. we had a giant of a man who was very principled but understood the senate as welas anyone i've ever met and understood the need to give-and-take, to move the country forward. and my experience with senator kennedy was that i used h image in my caaign to get elected, like every other republican did. we don't want to send another person up to help ted kennedy. and he loved that. he got more airtime in republican commercials than the candidates themselves. he loved it. i remember him telling me a story about senator hollings, the tdition in the senate is that when you get reelected you ha your fellow senator from that state follow you down to

the well, and he went over, senator holling t senator kennedy and said, i want you to come down and escort me. why i'm n from south carolina? in my campaign you were. you re the other senator from south carolina. and ted got a lot of fun out of that. i think he appreciated the role he played and republicans almos to a person would use senator kennedy in their campaign. but when they got here, they understood that senator kennedy was somebody h you wanted to do business wit if you had a bill that you thought would need some bipartisan support, senator kennedy is the first person led think of. and you had to understand the limitations on he could help you w he is not going to help you with certain things because it ns countero what he believes in. but where you could find common ground on the big issues you had no better ally than senator kennedy. we met with the president's room every morning during the immigration debate. and at night he would call mep

and say, lindsey, tomorrow in our meeting you need yell at me because you need t get something -- i understand that -- and i wil fight back, but you will get i and the next day heould say, i need to yell at you. and sort of lik allstar wrtling, to be honest with you. and that was fun because he understood howar i could go and he challged mto go as far as i could. but he never asked me too further than i was capable of goin and in return held walk the plank for you. we had votes on the floor of the senate on emotional-driven amendments designed to break the bill apart from the right and e left, and i walked the plank on the right because i knew he would walk the plank on the left. he voted against amendments he probably agreed with, but he understood that the deal would come uaveled and the only thing i can tell you about senator kennedy,ithout any hess station, is if he told you

he would do something, that's all i neededo hear. a handshake from him was better than a video deposition from most people. and i don't know how to say it any more directly than that. opposing him was aot of f, because he understood that a democracy give-and-ke to move the ball forwas part of democracbut ctand your ground and plant your feet andelling the other side in arpful way to go to hell is also -- in a res@ectful way to go to hell is also pt of democracy. he could dot with the best of them. he cou also take a punch as well as tak give one we are misg the spirit of ted kennedy when it comes standing up for what you believe and being able to work with somebody who you disagree with on. if he were alive today, the health care debate would be differen involved, because this is hard.

i don't kw if he could deliver. but i think it would be different, a i think it would beore hopeful. the immigrati bl failed, but he td@@@@@@ a;e 1t4h @ z@ @ @ t secretary gierrez, and we wrote it line by line with our staffs sitting on the wall. it was one of the highlights of my political life to be able to sit in that room with senator kennedy and other sators and literally try to write a bill

that wasifficult. we failed, for the moment,ut we're going to reform our immigration system. in the guts of that bi, i ink, the balance that we've achievedwill be the startingfoints for fopoint for . it is the ultimate give-and-take and it made a lot of sense. to his wife vicky, i got to know ted later in his life. through him i got to know you. i know you're hurting now. but i hope that all the things being said by his colleagues and the people at lge is reassuring to you and as we move forward as a senate, when you lookality the history of this bo, which is long and distinguished, there are all kinds of busts to people aroun here that have done great things during challenging times, i wouldet everything on that senator kennedy, when the history of this body is written, is at the top echelon of

senators who have ever served. the point is that you can be liral us a want to be, you can be as conservative ayou want to be, and you can be as effective as you want to be. if you want to be liberal and effective, you can be. if you want to be liberal and noneffective, you can choose that route, too. same for being conservative. you dot have to choose. that's what senator kennedy taught this body, a i think what he demonstrateto anybody who wants to come and be a senator. so if you're a left-of-center politicianooking for a role model, pick ted kennedy. you can be liberal, proudly so, t y also can be effective. what i'm going to try do with my time up here is be a conservative who can be effective. that's the best tribute i can give to senator kennedy is being somebody on the right who will meet the middle for the good of the country. ted will be missed, but he will not b forgotten.

i yield back. mr. lautenberg: mr. president? the presiding officer: the setor from new jersey. mr. lautenberg: mr. president, is corner of the united states senate has become a lonely pla place. i sat next to ted kennedyere for a number of years. we miss him. we miss his camaraderie, his humor, his candor, most of all his courage. an though he won't be here to join us in the future, the things that he did will last for decades because they were so powerful. he was a constant presence here, and it's hard to imagine the senate without ted kennedy's

vibrant voice resoundg throughout this floor or his roaring laughter spilling out of the cloakroom. withou doubt, he was one of the finest legislators ever in this chamber's history. throughout his more than years of service, ted introduced 2,500ills and shepherded more than 550 of these into law. he was a man of many gifts, but his greatest had to be his remarkable affinity wit ordinary people. and i saw that gift firsthand in 1982 when i was makg my first run for the senate. a rally was being held for me in newark, and it drew -- in newark, new jersey, and it drew a crowd of thousands, and i wanted to think that they were there for me, but it was obvious that they were there for ted

kennedy. the warmth, the affection with which he was received in the city far from the borders of massachusetts, far from the halls of power in washington, was amazing to witness. it was fitting that ted came to newark to help me camign because he inspired me to devote myself to public service. he encouraged my entry into the unitedtates senate. and as soon as i joined the senate, ted kennedy became a source of knowledge and information, wisdom. he was a seatmate of mine, as i mentiod, in the senate, and freely offer ideas on creating and moving legislation that i thought of or i sponsored and even though he was born into privilege anwas part of a powerful political family, his fight was always r the worker, for jusce, and for those never often forgotten. he was nev shoul shy to chase oe

down and demand four vote or to call you on the phone & insist on your support. sometis he would try to bring you to his side through reason. other times it was through righteous fury. beuse ted was just such a tenacious fighter for a cause that he would often put on the gloves, no matter who the oppone might be. but he never let disagreement turn into a personal vendetta, no matter how bitter the fight, when it was done, he could walk across thi chamber ready to shake hands with his opponents and was received with affection and respect and deste his reputation as a divisive figure, h was at the top of the list of popular senators beloved by bh republicans and democrats. he carried a great sense of humor, liked to play pranks, one of which i saw upclose and personal. one thuday night after a long series of votes, we chartered a airplane to take ted kennedy,

john kerry, senator claiborne pellnd me north to join our vacationing famies in th area. a week later we were here in the chamber and claiborne pell came over to me, hand shaki with a letter in his hand and he looked at the letter. it was my stationery, and on that stationery ha@ asked for claiborne pell, a frugal pa mano pay a far greater share of the total than was originally agreed to. i was embarrassed, mortified and i apologized profusely and then i went to ted to assure him that if he got a letter like that which claiborne pell had that the letter was iorrect. ted turned belligerent. he remiewndzed me of the help that herovided in my first election and asked, how could i nickle-and-dime him after all of that help? d he turned on his heel,

walked away head-faced and then i realized it was part of -- it was a creation of 00 plot to embarrass me and the two ofs broke into laughter so loud, so boycesterous thathe presiding officer demanded that we leave the chamber. ted kennedy's life was always a lo of life. it was always obvious in the senate. and even though he could rise above partisan division, his life's work was deeply personal. it was ted kennedy who inherited the family lacy when two brothers were slain by assassi assassins' bullets. he met that chaenge by battling the powerful special interests, to pass the gun contl act of 1968 which made it illegal for crimils and the mentally ill to buy guns. together ted and i joined the

fight to keep our streets safe from the scourge of gun violence and for decades he was a force that shaped the national political landscape. he crafted life-changing legislation year after year and always fighting to shape public opinion toward his causes. he believed public service was a sacred mission a the role of a leader-to-was to make progress no matter how hard, no matter how long the journey, he persisted. i had the privilege of working with him on ma pieces of groundbreaking legislation. we worked closeically on fighting big tobacco and their attempts to seduce children into a lifetime of addiction. we reached a high-water mark in that struggle earlier this year when law was passed that gives the f.d.a the power to regulate tocco. it was something we worked on forth a long time. and we stood together on other

struggles, from e creation of the children's health isurance programo the ryan white act, to the family and medic leave act. think about it: thout ted kennedy, nearly 7 million children in this country would be nave health insurance. think about it. d kennedy, without him, a half a million americans suffering with h.i.v. would not be receiving vital services to cope th their disease. think about it. without ted kennedy, more than 60 million wkers would not have the right to take time off from their job to care for a baby or a loved one or en receive personal medical treatment. and he did more. he gaveeople assurance that the government was on the side. that in no small way made it more liklikely that barack obama woud

become president of the united states. and we are grateful that the last kennedy brother had the chance t see america rise above racism, above -- above prejudice. he had a chance, the last of the kennedy brothers in office, to see president obama take that oath. it was aroud moment for him and forll of us. and as his life ce to an end, ted said he saw a new wav of change all around us a promised us that if we kept our compass true, we could reach our destination. and in the days, the weeks and the months to come, the years to come, decade to come, we've got to keep ted kennedy's cause alive. it's the cause of breaking gridlock to get things done. it's the cause of expanding health care as a right nd not a privilege. it's a cause of bringing hope

and justice a prosperity to all. mr. president, we'll likely never see the likes of a ted kennedy again, but'm confident at we can riso the challenge the people's senator set for us and carry onor those who remember him, for those, yes, who hiss him miss hd for those who loved him and for those who would always need a champion like ted kennedy. and finally, if there was a demonsation of his humanity, the funeral tribute was one of enormous love and respect. anit was annunciated particular, because i rode with other senators the bus, it was annunciated particularl by the hordes of people standing by

the curbside with signs of gratitude for his contribution to the life and well-being of america. we are thankful for that. i yield the floor. oh, i ask unanous consent, mr. president, that my full statement beut in the record as i given. the presiding officer: without jection, so ordered. mr. by: mr.resident? the presiding offir: the senator from west virginia. . byrd: mr. president, i thank thehair. mr. byrd: mr. president, on august 25, a towering figure on our national political landscape left us forever.

edward moore kennedy succumbed to a malignant brain tumor after an 18-month battle for his life. as i look now a his desk, draped with black clothnd covere with flowers, i still have difficulty believing that he is gone. my eboulant, irish-to-the-core

friend has departed this life forever. how bleakly somber@@@@@@@ @ , a cheerful, inquisitive, caring man who never accepted somberness for loclong or the finality -- or te

finality of anything. his energic aerence to perseverance, his plain dogged determination, his ability to rise from the ashes of whatever new horrific event accostedim, always with grace and usually with a liberal dose of humor. were his trademarks. it was almost as if ted kennedy were at the top of his form when copingith adversity.

life itself inspired him. he believed that life was a contact sport but that it should never be played without joy in the game itself. and that is how he saw politics as well. ted kenned and iere friends, yet we were the oddest of odd couples. he was the silen of a wealthy

and storied family. i am a coal miner's son who had no bottom rungs in my ladder. in my early years, we, ted kennedy and i, were rivals -- rivals. what ted kennedy and i discovered, however, was tha somehow we had many things in common: a love of history, an affection for poetry, a fondness for dogs a commitment to the

lessortunate in our society. many will speak of ted's stunning career, his huge and lasting impact on our culture, his no, ma'am daition ohis domil scene through so many decades. by all means, let us never forget ted kennedy's extraordinary contribution to this great and magnificent country. it is largely unmatched.

but i shall especially cherish the personal side of this big man, with his infectious laugh, his boong voice, his psion for the things and the people that he cared about. i will rember the dog lover who brought sunny and splash t my office t visit. i'll never forget that. i will recall a considerate friend who sent dozens of rose

to mark my wedding anniversary on a special birthday. i will again enjoy a very special recitation of the midnight ride of paul revere. by habit, i shall immediately look for ted kennedy whenever i enter this chamber. in a thousand ways, large and small, he will simply b deeply, deeply missed.

my heart goes out to his steadfast wife, vicki, and to hi wonderful family. his spirit surely lives on in l of you. not very long ago i picked up a book of poetry which teddy kennedy had given to me in july of 1996.

it bore this inscription -- quote -- "to bob, the master of our legislative poetry who has already left so many extraordinary footprints on the sands of time." after that, ted had written, "seeage 371." i close with a few stanzas from "@ psalm of life" on page 371 of ted kennedy's gift to me.

"life is real, leaf i life is et and the grave is its gold, dust thou art to dust thous thou tur, not spoken of the soul, lives of great m all remind us we can make our lives sublime and departing leaveehind us prints on the sands of time; footprints that perhapsnother

sailing ore life's solemn main, a forlorn and shipwrcked brother, seeing shall take heart again. lets, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any failure still achieving, still pursuing, learn to lor and to wait." the presiding offir: the senator from georgia. mr. chambliss: mr. president,

i have been fortunate during my fe in public service to witnesa lot of historical events but none parallels the tribute just paid by one icon of the united states senate to another member of the united states senate. mr. president, i rise to pay my respts to d late senator ted kennedy. it, as one of my colleagues said earlier, it is a ltle bit ironic when you come to the senate you find out those with whom you have sigficant political disagreements were folks that you get to know well and that you have the opportunity to work with. i'm sure that during my political campgn for the united states senate todayed it raised me a lot of money by virtue of the fact that i would sight him in my fundraising mailouts. becae coming from a very conservative part of the country it was popular to cite the

liberal members of the senate and say you needed to be there to counteract when but when i came to the senatand certainly senator kennedy and i do come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, i learned very quickly if senator kennedy whathe senate is all about. i was here about, gee, it couldn't have been but a couple of days, something less than 48 hours and i was notified that i was going to be on the judiciary committee and i would be the chairman of the immigration subcommittee on judiciary. and my ranki member would be ted kennedy. senator kennedy came to me theloor within a few hours of me being notified of that and h said, he said, saxby you and i need to sit down and discuss

some immigration issues that next two years and i just want to talk with you about it, get your thoughts andive you my thoughts. i said, well, sure, t, that would be great. i'd be happy t come to roar office and sit down with you. he said, no, tt's not the way the senate works. you're the chairman and i will come to your office. so the next day a sator who had been in office for well offeover40 years came to the ofa member of the senate who had been here a little over 40 hours andat down and had a conversati. that was a lesson abt the way the united states senate works that i will ner forget. as we begin working together on the immigration subcommittee we worked for about a year. it was in excess of a yr, i guess, on an issue that we

talked about thatirst day in my office and it involved the expansion of the l1h16789 visas our economy was booming and voices across our country needed access to more employe who had a specialized expertise. we were successful in ultimately striking a compromise. it was difficult for ted because the left wing of his party was very much in opposition to what we were doing. it was somewhat, although a little less difficult for me because the right wing of my party was in opposition to what we were dng. ted called me u one d after we had finished our negotiations an he was laughing and he said, agreement on this and i'm going to do exactly what i told you i would do but, boy, am i ever getting beat up by the far left in my party.

they are just killing to me. it is to the point where i am up for reelection and you may have to com to massachusetts and campaign fore is we laugheda1'4 @ here for president obama's inauguration and he reminde me of tha story and he never foot that. i will have a very fond memory ted by virtue of the ft my grandchildren were eight and six years old when i first came to

the senate. we have anti an ice cream social across from the par of our offices. his office was directly below my office. i am walking back from the ice cream social with my grandchildren who were here for that because it happens the same time as the white house picnic and ted's driving off in his car and heees me coming acrs with my grandchildren, stops the car, gets out and he says, sax these must be your grandchildren and i said, they are, d i said i want my dogs to see them and have a chance to mee my dogs so he got out of the c and got the dogs out and my grandchildren just love playing with those dogs. every year after that i never called him, he called me because he knew when the white house picnic was going on that my dprch would be here. and he would insistn bringing

the dog up when the grandchildren were here so he would have a chance, they would have a chance to play with them. that's just the kind of guy that ted was, muchofter side than what we see, had seen so many times with ted with the passionate debate and what not. lastly, lete say that another story, i wasoing dn to speak to a society in savannah tha has the secondest largest stpaick's day parade in the united states. it is a big deal and weave 1,000 folks at the dinner. you go in and you tell jokes. well, i needed a bunch of irish jokes. so i called up ted and told him what i w doing and i said i know you must have a become of irish jokes. he said, i do and i've going to send it to you and he said, i tell you something else, i know in savannah that's a very

conservative part of the world. you are going to see in these jokes that you will have an opportunity to point out somebody to kind of poke fun at and when you have an oppornity in telling these jokesou use my name. well, i took him a his word and i did andoy did i ever get a rousing welcome fro all those irish men in sannah, georgia so i have fon memories of this man who came from difficulty dit part of the country, a dferent political background from where i come and somebody who certainlhad much more polical experience than i will ever have but the thing i appreciated in ted kennedy was and i have said this often, he was the best legislator in is body. when ted kennedy told you something, you could take it to the bank. you never had to worry about it

ereafter. while we disagreed onany things, we agreed on some things and were able to work together in a very unusual way and even when we disagreed we were able to walk out of this chamber and still be friends. to vicky and patrick and the children, ted was a great american, a great guy, and he is going to be missed in this body. he was a true inspiration to a lot of us and we're going to miss that comomising aspect of ted kennedy that won't be here even though someone else will take up the mantle. with that, mr. president, i yield back. the presiding officer: the nator from california is recognized

mrs. feinstein: mr. president, as i sit here and listen to the remarks of my colleagues, and i look over at that black velvet-draped desk, with the pristine white roses and the poem by robert frost and i thi of the past 17 yours i've been here and have looked upnd, perhaps, late at night, phaps it's in the morning, perhaps it's in the aernoon, and senator kennedy is at his desk and he is talking about a bill that he cares great deal about and as senator lautenberg said earlier, he passed 550 bills that were passed io law. now, around here you can introduce a bill and maybe it goes somewhere and maybe it doesn't and you can introduce a bill and maybe it's a small bill but introducing a big bill that

goes somewhere, that passes the house and that's signed by the president of the united states, is not a small feat. i listened to senator byrd and in the past he has spoken about lions in t senate. and ted kennedy was a lion of the senate. during 47 years and this morning in t judiciary committee we learned he had been the longest serving member, during 47 years, if you look at the big bills, the mental health systems act of 1980 which enabled people with mental illnesses to live in their communities withinimal hospital care. the childn's health insurance program which has been spoken about which provided health insurance to uninsured children of low-income families. the commitment to health care

form tha didn't diminish even as he suffered through terminal illness. his dedication to education. he was a leader in the landmark elentary and secondary education act which established the federal government's commitment to fund school for poor children in public schoo. "no child left behind" widely hailed as the greatest example of bipartisan cooperation during the bush administrion. the bill he did with orrin hatch, the servemerica act, the greatest expansion of national service since the new deal. and it goes on and on and on: big bills; bills that changed people's lives. not just in a county or a city t all across this great country. in civil rigs, as you look across at that deck, he had no

peer, he would stand up and i would wch the lower jaw would quiver slightly and he would begin and the thunderous tones either in the judiciary coittee or here that would fill the rm, filled wh passion, filled with conviction, filled with determination. he played a major role in every civil rights battle in this congress f 40 years. who can say that? he fought for people of color. for women. for gays and lesbians. for those seeking religious liberty. his amendments to the voting right act in 1982 led to significant increases in minority reprentation in elective oice. he was a major sponsor of the americans with disacts act to ensure that millions of disabled americans can live productive lives. these are not small bills; these are big bills.

and the civil rights act of 1991, which strengthened civil rights protections against discrimination and harassment in the workplace, again a big bill which became law. i was part of tt small group of senators that met on immigration reform hour after hour in small hot rooms, watched senator kennedy with his sleeves rolled back. when he wod s back and wait for just the right time to move or chae the tenor of the discussion. true, that was one that was not successful, but it wasn't because he did not try. 17 years ago joe biden asked me if i would be theirst woman on the senate judiciary committee, and i had the honor of doing it. ted kennedy was number-two in seniority sitting on that committee. and we saw his cmitmt

firsthand. it was very special. you see, i s a volunteer in the campaign for john fitzgerald kennedy. i was a full-time volunteer for bobby kennedy for his campaigns. i saw the nation ripped apart by these double assassinations. and i saw senator kennedy, in addition to being a lion in the senate, become a surrogate father to nieces and nephews, and i saw him accept this mantle th great enthusiasm, with great love, and with a commitment that spanned the decades. that, mr. president, is very spial. it is a very special human dimension of a great individual. iost my husband bert through cancer, and i know well what the end is like. and i know the good time that grows less and less and the bad

time that becomes more and more. ted kennedy's life was enriched by a very specl 0 woman, and he ne is vicki kennedy for me she is really a mentor o what a wife shoulde. i've watched her sitting with him, writing speeche i've watched mehr at weekend retreats. i've watched her fill his life with love, companionship, understanding, and i know a little bit about what the last months of a cancer victim is like. and i can only say to her that we will do everything we can to end cancer in our lifetime in this body. yes, ted kennedy leaves very big shoes, shoes that probably will never be filled in quite a ay. a family that will probably

neve be replicated, as the kennedy family has been. and i want t end my remarks with a passage inhe prayer book of the high holy day sstleses for reforme judaism. it was written when i was a teenager by a young rabbi tt i very much admired, and i'd like to share it at this time. "birth is a beginning and death a desnation, and life is a jurnlgy from childhoodo maturity, from you to age, from innocence to awareness, and ignorance to knowing from foolishness to discretion, and then perhaps to wisdom, from weakness to strength or strength to geakness and often back again, from health to sickness and back, we pray, to health again; from offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to

love, from joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion, and grief to understanding, from fear to faith, fro defeat to dfeat to defeat, until looking backward or ahead we se that viory lies not in some high place along the way b in having made the journey stage by stage a sacred pilgrimage. birth is a beginning and death a destination and life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage to life everlasting. ted kennedy leaves giant legacy i this body, and we should not forsake it. thank you very much, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana is recognized. mr. baucus: mr. president, following the passing of

president john f. kennedy, senator mike mansfield said, "he gave us of his love that we, too, in turn might give." these words ring true today as we remember the life of our late colleague, senator ted kennedy. so much of this country's history in the past hf-century can be astribted to this one man -- attributed to this one man. but ted kennedy was also a modest man. he wouldot have put it that way. speaking almost 30 years ago at the 1980 democratic national convention, he quoted ten i son. quote: "i am a pt of all that i have met, though much is taken, much abides. that which we are, we are one equal temper of hearts, strong in wil totrive toee defined and not to yield."

in the more than 46 years that senar kennedy served in this body, he did not not yield and in turn he affected each and@@@@ hed many speak of these accomplishments. mr. president, it didn't take long for me to realize when i came to thisody -- a more and more as each year passed -- th ted kennedy is probably the greatest legislator in modern

american political history. the guy was amazing, absolutely amazing, an inspiration for me personally to try to be a very, very good legislator. now many people have also said that. i'm not the only one who's recognized his talents, that he was probably t best legislator in modern american political history. let me just say why that was true for me. first of all, it was the passion of his convictions. his moral compass was set s true. for the average perso the little guy, the person wh didn't have representation -- alth care, the poor, civil rights. he just believed so passnately, so steadfastly. his moral compass was just so firmly set. there's no question where ted nnedy was and what he believed in and it made him alive. it was his dream to fulfill the

lives of people who he worked so hard for. all of us remember ted kennedy working so hard to fulfill his dream. he'd -- his desk over here -- he'd stand up and he'd thunder, red-faced. he'd get so involved, so passionate, speaking so loudly, almo shouting what he believed in. you couldn't help but know that here's aguy who believes what he says and, my gosh, let's listen to him. he also had terrific staff. ted kennedy's staff has had him so welprepared, all these briefings books. i'll neverorget t briefing books that ted brought. he studied them. he read them. he was so well, well-prepared. along with his passion was his preparation a his staff just helped him prepare. it is all one team. they worked so closely together forhe causes they believe in.

i alsoas impressed and found him to be such a great legislator because after the speeches which he believes so thoroghly and passionately, he'd sit down with you and start to negotiator, try to work out an agreeme, try to work out some solution that made sense r him an@ made sense for you, if you happened to be on the other side. it was amazing to sit in a room and watch him work. temperament.demeanor, different he'd sit there. he'd cajole, tk, jokes, all in goodpirit, you know, all in an attempt to try to get -- get to the solution where he wanted to be. on the one hand he'd be out here in the chamber thuering. in the confence room he ha he'de here, all right, let's figure this out. how do we get this done? it was amazing.

it was such a lesson learned watching him legislate. i think he is also one of the best legislators in modern american political histo was he was such a -with such a light touch. he really cared individually for people, not just groups and masses. t individually. we've harder references to -- we've heard references to the book that he gave senator byrd, the poetory book and how senator kennedy would bring his dogs over to senator byrd's offe and listening to senator chambliss. senator iennedy made sure that he knew when senator chambss's grandchildren were here so that the grandchilen could see his dogs. he loved his dogs, but just that real, real light touch. i member whene referred to senator byrd's, i think, 67th wedding anniversary. he is such a caring guy.

he sent 67 roses to robert and irma byrd. and all the remembers he wrote. the handwritten letters he wrote. here is this wonrful guy w probably never use add blackberry. doesn't know what they are. he knows what they are. doesn't use them. he writes notes and hundreds of notes, thousands of handwritten notes, 10,000 of handwritten notes. he'drite note to anybo any time. just a light touch, a birthday, or call them up their first day. just a thank you. call them up -- somebodys in the hovment he himself would just do thravment more than a other senator here that i can thik of and i'll bet you to say that probably more than most senators combined here. he was just that way. let me just give you one smoa small example. my mother -- well, several years ago my hometown of hellen in a, montana, i was in a meeting, came back late at nieft after the meeting, mother said,

max, ted kennedy called. really? my mother said, i told him you were how the. we had a nice chat. i said what did you tiewk about? "oh, the mile city bucket horse sale." thad's an event. a few days later i walked up to ted and said, ted, i understand you talked to my mother? , oh, he said, you know, h sometimes the telephone, you're talking to somebody,ou can tell who the person is. your mother, she is such a wonderful person. she's so gracious and went on and on talkingbout my mother. the conversation that thewo of them had and they never metach other before. my mother is a staun republan and here's ted kennedy. he they just hit it off. i went back home aew day later and told my mother, mom, bo ted was impressed with the teleone call you had. my mother said, oh, gee, that's great. my mom wrote ted a note thanking

him for being so -- forraising her so much to me, her son. you know, just a few days earlier. the next thing i knew, my mother and ted were penpals ted wrote a letter ck to my mother. they're back and forth. i'd be in a committee hearing someplace and ted would say, hey, max, look. here's the letr i'm writing your mother. and basical they were just reminiscing about montana and about the mile city bucket horse seacialtion which is another reason why ted is such great die guy. he livedife so fusm he loved life. he embraced life in all the ways that he -- that life was available ta man. he was just wonderful that way. back in 1960 when his dad -- his brother was running for president, ted was assigned western states in the960 presidential campaign. d was out in montan and he

went to a democratic gathering. wasn't anybody there. so he wnts to the mile city bucket horse sale. we in montana -- in mile city, montana, have this bucking event, you take t@e horses off the prairie and buck them and put bids on the horses. the best bucking horses get the highest bid and go off -- the rodeo stock operatedders would use them. ted was there he went to the mile city bucking horse sale. the announcer said, well, young man, if you want to speak, first you got to ride a horse. and ted said, why not? ted gotten to a bronc. there is a wonderbul pho of ted at theile city bucking horse sale in monta. somebody had a quick finger. there's ted on this bronc. he was the best bronc rider we

ever saw. he sure had a gre time on that horse. long and shofort it is, he is a great ma for so many reasons and we just -- we love ted for all that he was. again, thereatest legislator i think in modern american political history. and iust also am so touched with what a family man he was. as the years went by, his brothers tragically lost and all that happened in the kennedy family, ted was a rock to others in the family. he justxperienced so much. he'd been through so much, so ch trage. obviously helped him so much character. and he is more tha an icon who foughtor causes. he is more than a voice for the commonwealth of massachusetts. ages i mentied, he was a -- as i mentioned, avenues loving son, brher, husband, father. working with him for the past years was one of the greatest

nors i'vead as a united states senator. and i would just say that, ted, we're going to -- as far as i'm concerned, wre going to take up you last great cause - that's health care reform. we're all here in the snoot do all we can tohatassed. i personally am going to pledge every ounce of energy at my comman to help get health reform passed for all american people and for ted kennedy. a wonderful man and just sorely missed. i might say, m president, i don't think there's going to be another man or woman in the senate again who is such a gnt as ted kennedy. heas a great guy. i yield the floor. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senatorrom wyoming is

recognized. mr. enzi: mr. president, i appreciate having this opportunity to join in the celebration of the life of ted kennedy. his loss was deeply personal to all of us because he was strong and a vital presence, not only in t day-to-day rk of the senate but in our day-to-day lives as well. he was interested and concerned not only about his colleagues but about our staffs and all the with whom he worked on a long lis of issues that will continue to have an impact o our natn for many generations to come. that was just the kd of individual ted was, active and completely involved in all things that had to do th the work of the senate. for my part, i've lost a senate colleague who was willing to work with me and with senator on both sides of the aisle. he was my committee chairman d my good friend. for those aoss the country who mourn this passing, they have lost a trusted and treasured voice in the senate, a champion who fought for them for almost 50 years.

the political land scaich our country has -- landscape of our country hasow been permanentlq changed. i think we all sensed what his loss would mn to the country as we heard the news of his passg. now we take this time to look back to the past and remember our favorite stories and instant replay memories of the the senator from massachusetts. inhe more than 12 years i've had the privilege of serving the people of wyoming in the senate, you had the good fortune to come to know ted on a number of leve. as a senator, he was a tremendous forceo be dealt with on the floor. if you were on his side, you knew you had a warrior fhting algside you who went to battle without the slightest fear of failure or defeat. if you had to face him from the other side of the arena, you knew you had aremends battle on your hands because, when it came to the principles he believed in, no one said it better or with more passion or more depth of understandi of the issue that were involved. as a result, he was able to notch an impressive list of legislative victories. during his long and remarkable

career, there were few initiatis that didn't attract his attention and his unique spirited touch that often turned them from faint hopes for change to dreams at long lastome true. whether it was an increase in the minimum wage, equal rights for all americans, or the effort to reform our nation's health care system, which was his greatest dream, ted operatedt one speed and one direction, that was full speed ahead. andtlways found him making progss on the task at hand. over the years, i was fortunate to have an opportunity to work with him on a number of issues that were of great importance to us both. he knew that we had toave a bill to get this side to agree on it and i was fortunate to have a sense of what it would take to g votes from my side. so together, we were able to craft several bills that were able to move tough committee and make it to the senate floor. when i served as the chairman of the senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, the partnership had foreigned over the years and helped up --

forg over the years and helped us compile a record of which we were both very proud. we passed 35 bills out of committee and 27 of them were signed into law by the president. most of them passed unanimously. i remember attending a bill signing with the president during which he remarked, "your committee is the only committee sending me anything." we checked and he was right, and that was due in large part to ted's willingness to work with us to get things done. in the years to come, i know i'll always remember two stories about ted. e was the time when we were working together on a mine safety law. nothing had been done in that area for almost 30 years. the average bill around here takes about six years to pass thanks to ted,e got that one done i six weeks. and it's made a difference. another had to do with my first legislative initiative after i arrived, a new sworn-in freshman senator. i knew that ted had quite a good rking relationshhp with my predecessor, al simpson, so as i began to work on an oa bill, a

safety bill i,tart schdduling my session with my colleagues on the bi committee o discuss the bill and go through section by section. i knew ted's support would be tsy@ h2@ @ @ 1@ @ @ @ itza,@ a7 around here and tha in all the years ted had been in the senate, no one had gone over a bill with him a section at a time. probably didn't need to. that started a friendship between us and a good working relationship with him that we both cherished. i tried to be a good sounding board for h and he always did the same for me.

our friendship can be best summed up in the day ted came to my office and psented me with a photo of the university of wyoming footballelmet next to the harvard football helmet with the inscription, "the cowboys and the crimson make a great team." we did and i always remember his thoughtfulness and kindness in reachi out to me. ted was one o those remarkable individuals who mad tho he worked with more productive. he was a man of eeptional abilities and he was blessed to have a truly remarkable helpmate by his side. vicki is a woman of great rength who brought a renewed focus d direction to ted's fe. e was hisost trusted confidant, h best friend and a wellspring of good advice and political counsel. he would have nev been all that he was without her and she'll forever be a special part of his life story. for the enzis will always remember how thoughtful he was when my grandchildren were born. he was aays excited about it as i was. he presented me with a gift for each of t that will always be

a cherished reminder that ted had a great appreciation for a of us and he treated both members and staff with the same kindness and concern. actually, we got irish mist training pants for each of them as the were -- as they were born. when ted was asked during an interviewhat he wanted to be most remembered for, he said he wanted to make a difference for our country. he was able to do that and so mu more. he will be missed by us all and he will nev be forgotten. all tse who knew and loved him will always carry a special memory with us of how he touched our lives as heried to make our nation and the world a betterlace. i'd ask that the balance of my speech be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wasngton is recognized. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. you know, wn i was young, ted kennedy was larger than life. i was just 12 years old when he was first elected to the senate as the youngest son of a political dynas that seemed to dominate the television eh night in my house and the

newspapers every day. at first, he served in the shadow of his olderrothers. but as i grew up, the youngest brotr of the kendy family did too in front of the entire nation. for me and so many others, ted kennedy bama similar bowl of peeverance over tragedy. from his walk down pennsvania avenue at the side of jaceline kennedy to the heartbreaking speech that heelivered at his brother bobby's funeral, to his pledge to carry on the causes of those who had championed his bid for the presidency, ted kennedy routinely apared before the american people with great courage at t most trying times. and all the while he was also standing up in this chamber each day with that same grit and determination to fight for the people of massachusetts and the nation. on issues from protecting the environment, to civil rights, to increasing the minimum wage, to

health care, he was a psionate and unmatched aocate and leader. and so it was with a lifetime of watching senator kennedy with admiration from afar, i arrived heres a freshman senator in 1993. by the time i was elected, ted was already well on his way to becoming one of the most powerful and influential senators of all time. so i couldn't believe it when i first walked out on to this floor and he walked over personally to me. for me, that would have been enough. the line of the senate -- the lion of the senate reaching tout a rookie. but to ted kennedy, it wasn't. through calls to my office, discussions here on this floor, and by taking me under his wing on the senate "help" committee, he became a friend, a mentor, and sooner than i could ever imagined, a courageous partner on legislation that i cared deeply about. mr. president, as a state senator in washington, i h

worked very hard before i got here to successfully change the state laws in washington on family and medical leave. it was an issue tha was extremely personal to me. my father had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when i was very young, and since that time, my mother had always been primary caregiver. but a few years before i ran a became a u.s. senator, my mother had a heart attack and had to undergo bypass surgery. suddenly, my six brothers and sisters and i were faced with the question of who was goingo take time off to care for the people we loved the most, the pele who care for us for too long. a family leave policy would have allowed any of us just a few weeks necessary to see them through their medical cris. but at the time, none was available. so after running and winning and coming he to the united states senate, the family and medical leave act was a bill i wanted to

stand up and fight for. and as it turned out, it was the first bill we considered. and senator kendy was here managinghat bill on the senate floor, and i found out he, too, had a personal connection to that bill. i well remember one day when senator kennedy pulled me aside to tell me about how he had spent a lot of time with hiswn son in the hostal fighting ncer and how he'd met so many people at that time who couldn't afoafford to take time off to ce for eir loved one and how some were forced to qui their jobs to take care of somebody they love because they were sick. he told me that together we were going to work hard and get this bill passed. and the he showed this rookie how you do it. week after week, he fought against bad amendments to get the votes w needed to pass it. he blended just the right mix of patience and passion. he ske out loudly in speeches

when he needed to, and he whispered into the ears of his colleagues when that was called for. and a f days after senat kennedy pledged to me we would get it done, we did. through that effort and more battles on this floor, i learned so much fm him and so have all of us. because more than almost anyone, senator kennedy knew the senate he knew how to make personal friends even with those he didn't agree with pitically. he knew how to reach out and find ways to work with people to get them to compromise for the greater good. and he knew when not to give up. he knew when to change theace or turn the page to get things done. he knew when to go and sit down next to you or pick up the phone and call you. he knew how to legislate. and because of that, he built an incredible legacy. and, mr. president, it's a legacy that will not only live

on here in the senate chamber, where he was so well loved and respected, it's a legacy that is going to live on in the classrooms across america where kids from head start to college have benefited from his commitment to opportunities and education. it's going to lire on in manufacturing floors where he fought for landmark worker safety protections. it's going to live on in our hospitals, where eedical research that he championed is saving lives every day. it will live on in courtrooms, wherehe legacy of discrimination was dealt a blow by his years of service on our judiciary committee. and it will live on in voting booths, we are fough for our most basic rights in a democracy to be protected and expanded for decades. and it will live on in so many other places that were touched by his service, his passion, and his giant heart an senator kennedy fought for

and won so man good battles but for many of us he worked with, it may be the small moments that will be remembered. the percent senate touch he brought not onl to legislating but to life. mr. president, as i mentioned a moment ago my momad toake re of my dad for most of his life. his multiple sclerosis confined him to a cheel chair and she could not leave his side. one of the few and maybe the only time she did leave my dad was when i was elected to t united states senate and she flew all the way out hererom washington ste to washington, d.c. to see me be sworn in. to my mom,ted kennedy and his family were amazing individuals who she followed closely throughout their lives and through their triumphs and of course through tragedy. after i wasworn in here and my mother wasn the gallery watching, we walked back over through the halls of congress and back to my office expo

shortl afterhat we had a vestor: senator kennedy came over to my office a gave my mom a huge hug. will never forget the look on her face, the tears in her eyes, the clear @isbelief that she had met ted kennedy and it was overpowering. it was a moment i will never forget for my mom and it is certaiy i wil never forget that moment if with my friend ted kennedy. i will miss him. our countryill miss him. as he reminded us in the claim out speech he delivered last summer inenver, the torch has en passed to a new generation and the work begins anew. so today as we honor all of his contributions to the senate and the nation we must also remember to heed that brave final call and continue his fight for all of those who cannot fight for

themselves. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york is recognized. mr. schumer: i thank my friend and colleague, senator murray for his heartfelt words and all of my colleagues. the love we all felt and fl for ted kennedy is genuine. it's person to person because that's how he was. there is souch to say. i kno we are limited in tim we couldpeak forever. every one of us could speak forever about ted kennedy because he had so many interactio with each of us. it's amazing that every person has a long list of stories in this body and thousands of ople in massachusetts and thousands more throughout america you would think there

were 20 ted kendys. he had so much time for the small gesture that mattered so much such as theug going out of his way t go to a reception and hug patty murray's mom. it happened over and over and over again so we could each speak forever. our time is limited, we are going to shut off debate soon and others want to speak so i will put all of my remarks in the record and touch on a few things. but i could speak forever about ted kennedy. i thout of him every day while he was alive and i think of him every day that he is gone and had a deem about him the other night where, typically, he was ng me around to various places in boston and just explaining a little bit about each one with a joke, with a smile, with a rembrance. there's also nothing that we can say because nothing is going to replac him.

no words can come clo to equaling the man. mr. president, you read about history and you read about the great people in the senate, the weters, the clays, the lafayettes, the wagners -- what a privilege it was for somebody likeyself, a kid from brooklyn, father was an exterminator, never graduated from colle, and i was in the presence and was actually a friend to a great man. i think, you know, you can't say i don't think i could say that really about anyone else. and it's amazing. what i want to tell the american people, you all read about it and there were the good times and the b timesnd the brick bats that were thrown at him --

not so muc recently but in the early days -- but when you are inhe senate you know people personally and within you are in our walk -- when you are in our walk of life you know people personally and you meet a lot of famous people. some are disappointing, the me you see them, the less you want to know them. with ted kennedy the more you saw him the closer you get, the better he looked. he had flaws but he was flawless. and he was such a genuine person and such a caring person and such an horable and decent man that i just wish that my children had gotten to know him, that my friends had gotten to know him that all of my 19 million constituents got do know him the way i did.

what a guy. there are so many stori and so many memors. one day ted and i sat next to each other, i used to sit over e pictures on the wall and tell each person in really caring detail what he picture meant, what he replica meant. he would tell jokes and lau. and his caring for each person in that room -- these were the w freshman -- was genera genuin.

he did it regularly. these were freshman members of the senate. ted didn't really need them. he could get whatever he had to get done and they would support him. but he just cared about them. as if they were almost family. and thenhenever we had a late night we would sort of gather and i would be the emissary and go to ted and say, can weo upstairs? of course. and amy klochar and sherrod brown and bobasey, their faces would lloyd up and up we would go to hear more stories about the past, the sate, and the indivials, a memory none of us will ever forget. and ted kennedy would size people up early on and care about them. he was very kind to me but he also knew that i was the kind of guy he had to put in his place. i would get hazed by tedennedy

and jay rockefeller went through the same thng. he knew who i was but he deliberately would not mention my name. we would be standing together and he wouldcy, senator mikulski, will d this and accept harkin you will do this and senator conrad you will do that and i was the last one and he said the others will do this. it was funhe did it with a twinkle in his eye and we loved, he and i, the give-and-take, brooklyn-boston. the first year i was here, the red sox were pleaing th were pys in playoffs game. ted and i made a bet. he said the loser will have to hold the pennant of the losing time offer his head and recite "casey at the bat," on capil

hill and we had the bet,he yankees won and he was fning fear, this man who had been through everything. we wen out on the stops he was hiding behind me, i have a picture of it on my wall and we were joking a laughing and he did his duty. and i was just a freshman senato sort of like patty or anybody else, h went out of his way for all of us. he would tell me to member the birthdays and the individual happings in each senator's life and go over and say somethg to them. it was h way of teaching me and done like a father. 12 an amazing -- he was an amazing perso the closer you got to him the better he looked as a legislator

and as a giant in our history and all the history books recorded and people have ferred to his accomplishments but i just want to share with people how it was in person, just on one-on-one, you could ba snator or two guys on the street corner and he was fun and he was caring and he was loving. he was a big man but his heart was much bigger than he was. he loved almost everybody. he saw the good in peopl and brought it out. he saw the faults in people and in a strong but gentle way tried to correct them. he was great on the outside and he was even more great on the inside. i see my colleagues are waiting so i will par with this million i. ted and i became good friends and, you know, spentime together in many different ways.

when he got sick i felt bad like we all did and would call him every so often. and this was october of last year he wasll but he was, you know, still in strong health. and i called him a couple of days before it was october and i said we have a dsc event in boston and i thought i would call and say hello and let him know i would be in his territory an he said, what are you doing before the event and he said why don't you come out to the compound at hyannis. so i did. he picked me up at the ain't. i flew -- at the airport. i flew in, on a little plan he was in his hat and happy as could be, full vim and vigor, and it is obvioushy he wasn't afraid of death. you know yourself and you know you have de everything @e has done on both a personal basis

and as a leader you are not afra of death. anyway, he wasn't at all talking about that. we were supposed to go out sailing but it was too windy so we had lun, he vickynd i, clam chowder and he lived in t big house on the compounthe one you see in the pictures. but he took me to the house by the side. that was the hou where president kennedy lived because when he was president, joseph p. kennedy, ted's father, lived in the little house. for about thr hours he opened all these drawer and closets on the walls and in each one, in loving, teachg, detail talked

to me about the history of the family and of boston and wha happened from mayor honeyfitz through his father and ted growing up, laughing and reminiscing and about president kennedy as he was growing up and then, as president, in this little house, and all the way through to ted. and he was sort of passi on the memories and he did it again out of just subsequent rost gent and friendship. he was just a great man. and every one of us know his greatness was not just in the public eyes but in the private, one on one, a great man.

theerm is overused. thereren't many. he was one. i was privileged to get to know him, to get to be his friend, to stand in that large shadow, learn from it and just enjoy and to love him. so ted, you'll always beith us. they may take those flowers off the desk and they may take the black crepe off the desk but you will always be here for me, for all of us and for our country. i yid the floor. mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon is recognized. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to remembernd honor o colleague, senator edward kennedy. i first had the pleasure of

hearing senator kennedy speak in 1976. i had wanted to come out to washington, d.c., to see how our nation operates. i'd had t great privilege of serving as an intern for a senator from my home state, senator hatfield. my father had always talked about senator kennedy. senator kennedy, as someone who spoke for the disenfranchised, someone who spoke for the disposed, someone who cared about the workingman,o i was looking forward to possibly meetg him or at least hearing m. and lo and behold i foindz out that he was scheduled to speak as part of a series of lectures to the interns that summer, and so i made sure to get there early and what followed was exactly the type of address that you might anticipate:

a roaring voice, a passionate spirit, a principled presentation of the challenges we faced to make our society better. i walked outf that lecture and thought, thank goodness, tha goodness we have letters like senator kennedy -- leaders like senator kennedy fighting for the working people, the challenged, the dispossessed in our society. through that summer each time i heard that senator kennedy was on the floor, i tried to slip over and go to the staff section so i could sit in and see a little bit of the light in the senate in action -- of the lion in the senate in action. well, through that time i never anticipated that i'd have the chance to come back and serve here in the u.s. senate with senator kennedy, but 33 years later this last january when i

was sworn in, that unanticipated miraculous event of serving with him occurre. i wanted to tk to him about the possibility of joining his health, education, and labor committee, a committee where so many battles for working americans, so many battles for disenfranchised americans are waged. and so with som trepidation i approached him on the floor here to speak with him and asked if he thought i might be able to serve on that committee, he might whit per in the ear of our esteemed majority leader in that regard, if he thought i might serve well. and it was with some pleasure that weeks later i had a message on my phone in which he went on at some length welcoming me to

that committee. and it was the first committee to which i received an assignment here. and i couldn't have bn more excited and more pleased. i didn't have a chance to have a lot of conversations with senator kennedy. i was very struck when 00 bit more than -- when a bit more than a month ago his staff contacted me and said that in conversation with senator kennedy that they were wondering if i might like to carry on the torch on the employment nondiscrimation act, t civil rights measure that he cared a great deal about. they were asking me because this is a battle that i had waged in the oregon legislature. it had been a hard battle, fought over a number of years rs and a battle that we won. and i was more an excited, more

than honored to help carry the torch on such an important civil rights measure. and i hope i'll be able to do that in a way that he would have been satisfied and pleased. the senator from new york, senator schumer, talked about the many conversations that took place in senator kennedy les hideaway with freshmen senators and stories passed on. i didn't goat share much in those types of conversatio, but as we were wokin working onh care, senator kennedy invited a group of us to his hidway to brainstorm and thrgh the course of about two hours we went through many, many of the features and challenges ant andw we might be able to go forward and finally realized that dream of affordable, accessible health care for every sine american. when the meeting concluded, i

had a chance to speak with senator kendy about the picture he had on his wall of his beautiful yacht mya. now, senator kendy and i both ve a passionor sailing. it connected us across the generation. it connected us from the west coast to the east coast. it connecteds between the son of a mill worker and the son of a u.s. senator. it was magic to see the twinkle in his eye as he started to talk about his love of sailing, some of the adventures that he'd had son -- that hd had on various boats with friends and family. i asked him if he were aware of

one of my favorite stories, not a bu biography written by capitl joshua slow couple. now,@@@@@@@ investment and value and loaned share that ship and when the ship went dn, he lost everything. saved his lifbut he lost all of his possessions. and so he was up in new england wrestling with how to overcome

th tragedy and what to do with his life, and captain slo croovmenlocum hadthe kernel of . he was offered a shirntion a modest boat between 20 and 30 feet lon single-masted. he laterverhauled it and added an aftermast. but he thought, i could rebuild this ship. he said he rebuilt it -- captain slocum, he rebuilt it all but the name. the name "the spray" stayed from benning to the end. and he reblt it and went to sea to fish. it wasn't to his liking much. captain slocum had an idea, that he's going to perhaps sail aroundhe world. why not just sail right out are across th the atlantic? and it was a revolutionary idea because no one had ever tried to sail around the world by

themselves bay single person. but he -- by a single person. but he set off. i we to europe. i tell you this story at se length because senator kennedy knew this story well, we enjoyed sharing pieces of it back and forth p. he had gone forth in 1895 and taken three years to circumnavigate the gbe and came backo newngland three years later in 1898, well more than a century ago. and people around the world were astounded to see him sailing into a harbor all by himself, having crossed the broad expanses of ocean. well, in some ways the life of captain slocum repsents a version of the life of senator kennedy, someone who faced great adversity, who faced great tragedy, looked at all of that

and said, "i'm going to go forward. i'going to go forward and do something bold, something important." and the for senator kennedy, it wasn't literally sailing around the world, but it was sailing throug a host of major issues that affect virtually every facet of our lives, certainly the issue of public service, the national service act, the issue of mental health and the issue of health care and the issue of education and others who have rved with him have spoken far in more detail and eloquently than i ever could. but i just want to say to senator kennedy, thank you for your life of service. thank you for overcoming adversity senator, take a bold journey, a journey that has touched every

one of our lives. thank you f reaching out to converse with this son of a mill worker from oregon who felt so privileged to be here on the floor and to have just a few months with him, this master of e senate, and to hopefully carry some of the passion and the principle that he so embodied froord. from north dota is recognid. mr. conrad: mr. president, i thankhe chair. i want to rise today to thank our colleague, senator kennedy. there's a newaper in the cloakroomhat has ted's picture. and it has a quote from ted. and it reads this way -- "since i was a boy, i had known the joy

of sailing the water off of cape cod. and for all of my years in public life, i have believed that america must sail toward the shores of liberty a justice for all." he went on to say: "there is no end to that jouey, only the next great soyage." voyage." i would like to think that ted is on tha next great voyage now. i remember being sworn in in 1987. i held a reception at a little restaurant close by with friends and family from north dakota. i'll never forget. it was packed. you couldn't move. so many pple had come from north dakota t be with me, family members from all over the

country. and as can inof mine coming up to -- cousin of mine coming up to me so excitednd he said to me: senator kennedy's here. i hadn't kwn he was coming. that was so typical of ted, reaching out to the most junior of us, because he would know what his presence would mean. my family had been longtime supporte of the kennedys and it meant so much to my family fo him to be there that day. and that was so typical of him. taking timto do things that he knew would mean a lot to others even when it was ionvenient for him. the thing i remember and will remember the most about ted is his humanity. that smile, that twing in his eye, that -- twing in his eye,

that mischievous grin that would come over his face when he would comment what was going on here late at night, sometimes this place, you know, defies that sense escription. maintainedhatense of humor, that j in life. and heommunicated. he made all of us feel like we were part of something important, something big. and when somebody in this senate family had a problem, had a challenge, had a medical issue, very often ted was the fir to call. i had someone in my family who had health issues and somow ted found out and kind of sid ce up to me on the floor and said, i know that youave someone with a serious health issue. i know you must hav doctors,

you but if you need additional assistance or a second opinion and you wanto find people who are experts in this area, i'd be glad to help. that was ted kennedy. over an over reaching outo -- and over reaching out to others, trying to help,rying to provide encouragement, trying to provide a lift. that was ted. i remember so well about a decade ago when we were engaged in legislation on tobacco. and we had a circumstance in which there was a -- an important court decision and there had to be laws passed to deal with it. and i was asked to lead a task force here in the senate to try to bringogether different sides to deal with that legislation. of coue ted kennedy had been for a long time a leader on those issues as was senator frank lautenberg. and there were others as well.

ted far outstripped me in seniority and, yet, i was asked to lead this tkfore, and he came to me and said, sign me up as a soldier in yourffor and we had dozens of meetings. d ted was always tre. pitching in, helping to make a difference even when he wasn't the person leading the effort. somebody much more junior -- of course, he had many other responsibilities. but over and over and over coming up, stepping up, helping out. there was nothing small about ted kennedy. he had big plans. big ambitions. big hopesnd aig spirit. and he was always reaching out

to even the most junior of us to help out, to connect, to be supportive, and to show how much he cared about what we were doing and to give us a sense of how we were ftingn to making history. because ted also had a big view -- a bigiew of the importance of the role of the united states nate in making history. and a sense of how criti critily important the decisions that were being made in this chamber. there was nothing small about ted kennedy. when he was engaged in negotiations, il never forget him saying to me: keep your eye what is possible. keep your eye on what is possible. you know, we might want to

accomplish more, but take what you ca get to advance the cause to make progress, to improve the human condition, to me this a better place. that's what ted kennedy had in mind. i want to just close. i see colleagues who are here wishing to speak as well. my favorite line from a speech by ted kennedy we at the 1980 convention when he closed with these words. "for allhose whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall ver die." ted, the dream will never die. you're always in our thoughts. i yield the for.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator fromichigan is cognized. ms. stenow: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate t opportunity to be here with colleagues, and i so apprecie the senatorrom north dakota's words and the senator from new york and all of our other colleagues that have been here talking about our friend and colleague, the great senato from massachusetts. i think for me, being in my second term, still a relative newcomer here, one of the

greatest honors of my life has be the opportunity to work with and become friends with senator ted kennedy. i often have been asked, you know, what was the most surprising orxciting thing about being in the senate, a i always referred to ted kennedy. and not only knowing him a the larger than life way he's been described, which is ao true, but for me the images are of sitting in a small room going over amendments on the patients bill of rights when i was in my first term and having the great ted kennedy, not his staff, but ted kennedy sitting in a room with advocates talking about how we needed to mobilize and get people involved and what we neaded to do to get -- nded to do to get votes or how to write something.

doinghe work behind-the-scenes behind-the-scenes. ted kennedy, because of who he was, his family, his -- certainly great leadership knowledge and extension -- his time here, his length of time here could have simply stood up on t floor and made eloquent speeches, which he always did, that booming voice in the back that would get louder and louder and lder as he became more volved in what he was talking about. he could have just done that, and that would have been an incredible contribution to the senate. but that's not what he did. he was as involved behind-the-scenes in getting things don morso than inhe

public eye. he worked hard and showed all of us an example of someone who as dedicated to the details to the advocacy as well as to what was happening on the floor of the united states senate. very, very important lesn for all of us. as cha of the steering an outreach -- and outreach committee for our senate majority, one of my responsibilities is to bring people with various interts together. usuay on a weekly basis to meet with members on issues from education to health care, clean energy, a civil rights, terans. and people always wanted to have ted kennedy in the room. and, again, as a very senior meer with tremendous responsibilities, chairing t "help" committee, all of the

other responsibilities that he had, he could have easily said to me: you know, i'm just not going to beble to d tt. we'll have more junr members come and join in these meetings. but he came over and over and over again. and one of the things that we joked about all the time is that he would see me coming and say: i know, i know, there's a meeting tomorrow. i'll b there. i'll be there. he was someone who gave his all at every moment and he also understood that people needed and wanted t see him, to hear him, and the important leadership role that he had here. importance to people. and hereated everyone the same.

he was committed to a vion of making america the best it could be. where every child would have the chance to grow up and be healthy, succeed in life, have a job, and at the end of life, a pensn and retirement and toe able to live with dignity. his service was great, but his legacy is even greater. and i believe his challenge to each of us is even greater. it's true that in nearly every -- nearly every bill passed -- every major bill in the last 47 years bears some mark from senator ted kennedy. the civil right act, the voting rights act, meals for the elderly, the women, infants

program and violence against women and title 9 which has given so many wom and girls to participate and move through education at the highest levels, including the united states supreme court, asell as the wonderful athlethc abilities we have seen. children's health insurance; americorps, mental health parity act, legislation to allow the f.d.a. to regulate tobacco, the ryan whi comprehensive aids act, aricans with disabilities. it goes on and on and on. these are jt a few of the hundred of bills that senator kennedy sponsored or cosponsored during his time in the senate. in each and ery one of those bills made america a little bit better. his commitment to achieve the best of america for every child,

every family, every worker was unmatched. we really have lost the lion of the senate, and he will be sorely missed. personally, i've lost a friend, someone who have the highest personal respect for, but someone who i cared deeplybout as aern. to vicki, to theamily, we give our love and affection, and thanks for sharing him with us. in his maiden speech in the senate, senator kennedy spoke of his brother's legacy. today the same words can be spoken about him. if his life andeath had a meaning, it was that we should not hate, but love one another.

we should use our powers not to create the conditions of oppression that lead to violen, but conditions of frdom that lead to also, and senator merkley about senator kennedy. i wanted to tell two quick stories about him. i had the pleasure of serving on his committee from 2007 on. before we -- ely in my first year in the senate, the senato, as some know around the country, and certainly all the members of the senate know, we choose our desks on the senate floor by seniority. in the first month or so of 2007, the freshmen, the other nine members of my class, the ten of us were choosing our seats on the senate floor. you look around the senate chamber, there's no reall bad place to sit. i began to pull my -- i heard from a senr member that setors carve their names in

their desk drawers sort of like high school perhaps. i began to pull the drawers open on se of the desks not yet chosen. i pulled on this drawer here. it had hugo black of alabama, f.d.r.'s favorite southern senator who introduced legislation for the six-hour work day, making psident roosevelt's eight-hour work day bill seem less radical. senator green from rhode island who came in the 1960's and served more than two decades. senator al gore sr. from tennessee. then it just said kennedy without a stat or without a first name. i asked ted to come over and look. i said, ted, which brother is this? which brother's desk is this? he said it's bobby's desk. i have jack's desk. i, nf course, fell in love with this desk and got the opportunity to have sat here for the last three years. e other real quick story about senator kennedy. i know senator kyl is scheduled to speak. i as others were invited from

time to time to go up to his study just off the senate floor, one floor above us, just outside the chamb, to talk to him and hear him tell stories until late in the evening as we were voting sometimes util midnight or 1:00 or 2:00. what struck me about the study were the photos on the wall. each pto pictured people we all recognize: president kennedy, joe kennedy, rose kennedy, ethyl kennedy, bobby kennedy. eunice kennedy shriver, all the people we recognized, buted kennedy said to us these are my family photos. these were people we recognized in the photos, but i had never seen these photos. none of us had. these weren't the photos in "life" magazine. these were the photos of the kennedy family. what impressede about that was they were the kennedys at hyannis port, the kennedys sailg, the kennedys at the capitol, the kennedys at the

whit house. what really impressed me was ted kennedy could have givenp. he could have gone back to an easy life, particularly after the as a nation of robert kennedy in 1968. it would have been so easy for him to walk away from this job, from this kind of life,rom the danger he faced. and instead he stayed and he fought. and he had everything anybody could hope for in life. he had a loving family that cared so much about him. he had all the wealth he needed, and the lifestyle that so many would have been so tempted by. but instead he stayed and served right up until his death. and that says to me everything that i love about ted kennedy and everything that we all need to know about senator kennedy. thank you, madam president. senar ky thank you for giving me the time. mr. kyl: madam preside? i say to my colleague from ohio, i commentedn the same point. it's pretty obvious, but senator kennedy culd have, because of

who he was, done justbout anything. he certainly wouldn't have had to work as hd as did. but i have never known a harder-working senator than senantntntntntnt. it is with a heavy heart that i take the floor of the united states senate today. for each of the pact 46 years this chamb has running with the words of a man who came to be known as theion of the senate. but today that familiar voice has fallen silent. for the first time in a half-century, the senate returns to the work without edward. kennedy. with his passing, our count has lost a true giant, a mpassionate public servant who became a legend in his own time. a man whose legacy is bound up

in the historyf the united states senate, whose life and works have touched everyonen americince the day he entered public service almt 50 years ago. over the course of his career, hen ford more -- he enforced more legislation than just about anyone in history. he argued passionately for voting rights and helped extend the promise of our democrats to a -- of our democracy to a new generation. he spoke out in defense of our constitution and the principles that fairness we hold so dear. time and again he raised his booming voice on behalf of the less fortunate. he protected the rights and interests of the disabled. he extend health insurafce coverage to children and fought to improve the american health care system, a struggle tha

wod become the cause of his li. bu perhaps his greatest single achievement came early in his ca when he steed to the center of the national debate and l the fightgainst segregation and became a champion of the civil rights movement, leadi its full compassion to a difficult and divisive issue. today we live in a nation that is more free, more fr, and more equal because of edward kenny. he was the single-most effective united states senator of our time. he did more good for more people than anyone in the senate has known before. and it will be very, very long time, madam president, before we

see the likes of him again. ted kennedy reminds us of the greatns that lives in our highest aspirations. he enjoyed wonderful tumphs and endured terrible tragedy. and through it all, he taught us keep the fire burning, to nfront every challenge with passion, with he, and with undying faith in the country that we love so much. he reached across the aisle time and again. everyone saidt compromise wasn't possible. deated kennedy did the impossib. partisan politics divided conservatives from liberals and republicans from democrats. ted kenne was always there bring us together in the service of the american people. i first met ted kennedy i 1962

whenis brother was president and ted was a young man runni for the united stes senate. i was a legal inturn at the ite house, a second-year law student at howard university. for me, thehance to serve the kennedy administration and to meet all three kennedy brothers was a remarkable, inspiring part of my early career in public service. i had the for the national to -- i was for the not to have the serve of senator kennedy again when was unrunning for reelection for state conservator of the state of illinois. i was up for reelection and i had a major fund-raiser rmingt i needed a big dw to come and help me raise funds. someone said, well, there is a senator from massachusetts named ted kennedy. he'll come help you. i said, no.

no senator of his caliber would come down to our capal for a fund-raiser for a person who is running for state comptroller. needless to say, mr. president, i contacted the senat's office office. without hesitation, senator t kennedy appeared at the fund-raiser at the united states capital to help me retain my seat as state comptroller. and during that same time we had a little agedy take place that evening. for my 15-year-old son in chicaghad been admitted to the hospital. and it was a question of whether or not i could be there at the fund-raiser or go tchicago to be with my son because my wife and his mother was in minnesota, mr. chairman. and so president kennedy -- senator kennedy understood the dilemma, but we went on with the

fund-raiser and got our son taken care of. but after my son was out of the hospital and home, guess who i get a call from days later wondering how my son was doing it was ted kennedy. a man of his caliber you just don't see each and every day in this country. and after i came to the united states senate myself, i had the honor to serve with ted only briefly. all the tim i knew senator kennedy, i came to see him as more than a ling legend, more than a senior statesman, more than the lion he had become, for he and for all who were fortunate enough to meet him over the years, he w a genuine human being, a remarkable ally, and a compassionate friend. he displayed nothing but

kindness and remain for everyone he -- for everyone he met, fm his good friends to his bitter opponents. but for his many accomplishments, for all that he accomplied over the course of a lifetime in public service, there was at least one victory that eluded him. as i address this chamber today, we stand on the verge of health care reform only because we're anding on ted kennedy's shoulders. and when the time comes, our plan to honor his legend and pay tribute to his service, a passionate vote that he could into the live long enough to s see,hen senator kennedy departed this life on august 25, he left me than an empty desk

in this senate chamber; he left a fight for us to finish. a standard for us to bear. long ago he picked up the legacy of his fallen brothers and carried it forth into the new century. ronald reagan once said -- and i quote -- "many men are great. a few capture the imagination of the spirit of t times. and ones who do are unforgettable." end of quote. . president, he was talking about president kennedy, but his words ring just as true when applied to john kennedy's youngest bther. they speak to ted's enormous vitality, to his tiring impact on t lives of so many for so long. he is go now, but his presence

lingers in these halls, and the many senators who he has been friends and men terks and in the dedicated faith and le of the country that he inspired. in the wood and stone and the soul of the senate chamber, his legacy is very much alive. now that this legacy has been passed on to each of us and it is time to take up the standard once again, this is a momt to look to the future, the past; to meet difficult problems with bold solutns. it i the lion in the senate told us one year ago at the democratic national conveion -- and i quote -- "work begins ew, hope rises again, and the

dream lives on." end of qte. mr. president, no single voice can fill this chamber as his once did. but together we will carryhis refraine e e e e e e presiding t objection. mr. akaka: mr. president, i rise today to pay tribute to my friend from massachusetts, senator edward moore kennedy, who improved the lives of so many people during his 46 years of service in the senate. my warm aloha and prayers continue to be with vicki kennedy, staff members, the kennedy family, and his many friends. i ask unanimous consent that my full statement be included in the record.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. akaka: senator kennedy's life-long commitment to public service produced a proud legacy that has included expanding access to quality health care, protecting an empowering our -- and empowering our nation's workforce, and ensuring civil and voting rights. before outlining several of senator kennedy's important achievements, i want to share a story that demonstrates our shared commitment to helping working families and his optimistic outlook about the future. a beaming senator kennedy flagged me dowon t morning of march 2, 2005. he asked me if i had seen the

"washington post" in an editorial criticing the bankruptcy overhau under consideration in the senat the "post" indicated that the bill could be made more fair by the inclusion of several amendments by senator kendy, whh intend to protect -- intended to protect consumers, and my amendment to better inform consumers about the true costs associated with credit card use. after my amendment was defeated, senator kennedy was the first member to approach me. he complimented me for my work and told me we would win on the amendment one day. senator kennedyas right. took me another fourears, but my credit card minimum payment warning and credit

counseling referral legislation was enacted this may. -- this may as part of the credit card reform law. as an eternal optimist, senator kennedy never stopped advocating for increased aess touality health care. senar kennedy helped establish community health centers, the children's health insurance program, and programs that asst individuals suffering from h.i.v.-aids. thesere just few of the many health accomplishments that senator kendy helped bring about that improved the quality of life for millionsf people in our country. despite continuing to battle cancer, senator kennedy's passion to expand access to

quity health care never ceased. i also greatly appreciate all of e work done by senator kennedy to improve the lives of members of our nation's workforce. senator kennedy hped increase th federal minimum wage 16 times. he fought for strong workplace, health, and safety standards. promoted equal pay for equal work and securing retirement benefits. senator kennedy's career-long dedication to ensing civil and voting rights helped bring about numerous changes that have made our country stronge more equibl and just. he condemned the poll tax,ade efforts to lower the voting age to 18, and removed voting

barriers. in his -- in addition and his accomplishments and his advocacy for theeople of our country, i remember ted kennedy as a true friend, always generous with his assistce and time. for many years my desk was next to senator kennedy's. he wcomed me to the senate and always provided sound advice and guidance. in 1990, despite the long journey, senator kennedy came to hawaii to help me during my first senate campaign. i remember the rally that we held in honolulu at mckley high school as being one of the largest ever held in hawaii.

we also had a memorable visit to an early childhood development program. footage of the event was recently replayed on the news in hawaii showing senator kennedy and me singing "itsy-bitsy spider" to the children. we toured the children's hospital where we saw the devastating effect that crystal meth was having on families. senator kennedy visited the university of hawaii's john f. kennedy theater where he received an award for his work on health care. he spoke eloquently about our great country, congressional debates, civil rights, and economic empowerment programs. i, along with every member of this body, will very much miss

our friend from massachusetts, senator kennedy's extraordinary work has improved the quality of life for so many people. we can honor his memory by continng to work to address the issues senator kennedy was so passionate abut, such as, meaninul health care and immigration rorm. i say aloha to my good friend and colleague, senator

we know that unemployment is a lagging indicator of an economic recovery. so this was not entirely unexpected. we also know that just a few months ago our financial sector was on the verge of collapse. and the overall economy was teetering omewhere between a great recession d at worse a depression. thankfully both of those calamities have been averted. the stock market is up, housing sales are up, and manufacturing grew last month for the first time in more than a year. but the unemployment level now is above what many economists predicted when we passed the stimulus in february. particularly, the numbers for

the building construction trades where unemploynt still exceeds 17% in many states, including my own state of connecticut. perhaps that explains why when i met with workers in the construction trades in connecticut during august they were having a hard time expressing any gratitude for the positive effects of the stimulus. so the danger of a jobless recovery remains alloo real. with that in mind, a l of ople understandably are asking if we can do more. some have called for a second stimulus, though thosealls seem to have receded. others are asking and a number of myself among those what we can implement. at we have already passed faster. whether we can speed up the process so that me of our

citizens can feel the positive effects of the stimulus that we intend more quickly thanill ppen in the normal course. i for one hope that we can and i look forward to exploring that with the witnesses today. this morning, overall, we're going to take a status check on what's been done so far. and ask about the capabilities of all levels of government, the performance of all levels of government, and administering recovery act programs as the pace of spending naturally will pick up, we've known all along that we would spend more in fiscal year 2010 than in fiscal year 2009. and, of course, we'll ask whether we can increase the pace of that spending even more. personally, i believe that much has been accomplishedince the

recovery act wasassed as a result of the recovery. well, i'm going to not fall to the temptation of telling old jokes about economists never reaching a similar conclusion. i think from what i have read, most of them agree that the recovery act has helped halt america's economic slate and is pointing us and the private sector, helping the private sector toward a recovery. i can tell you that certainly maymrs and governors, other local officials make clear to me and others that things would have been worse without the help that the recovery act provided. let me briefly sum up where we are right now and the progress we've made. on the tax side, 95% of working americans ha seen their paychecks increase because of the make work pay tax credit.

has put about 23.2 billion into the pockets of these families so far. and in total since the act was adopted, $62.5 billion has been pumped in the economy through tax relief with $224.5 billion more of tax cuts still to come. nearly 334,000 new homeowners have claimed their recovery act's $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit. many analystsnd maybe in some senses more important, many people in the reaestate business, brokers, agents, et cetera, say this provision has pled a part in steadying the housing market and even now helping increase home sales for four months in a row. in transportation infrastrture over 6,700 highway projects have been improved and more than 2,200 e underway, hundreds of

airports across the country have been awarded funds for improvements and about $1.1 billion in amtrak improvements are on the way. the recovery act is also helping families through these tough times with extended unemployment insurance, increased social security payments, more food stamassistance, and aid to states through increased medicaid grants. recovery act payments to the states, through the f-map program and the fiscal stabilization fund have helped by the numbers that've seen keep 135,000 teachers and 5,000 laenforcement officers on the job. we'll come back to all of that with some questions and answers. the continued interest in the transparency of recovery act spending and a final but critical question that we want

to deal with today was particularly the presence of i like to see the honorable before john's name. we always thought he was honorable, but now he's been officially declared honorable. the challenge we want to deal with today is the federal government's efforts which he's helping to spearhe to prevent americans from being built by scam artists who promise government money in return for credit card information. scams directly related to the stimulus appear to be few so far, but unfortately, tough ecomic times are always accompanied by people who are ger to take advantage of other people's misery. and try to exploit those who are financially strapped and desperate for cash. so we look forward to that

additional and yand unique part of this approach to the recession. i look forward to your testimony now d i'm glad to call now on our distinguished ranking member, senator collins. >> tnk you, mr. chairman. seven monthsago, the american recovery and reinvestment act was signed into law. since that time, this committee has conducted oversighto help ensure that these funds are used as intended to help revitalize our economy by creing needed jobs, improving roads and bridges, sustaining vital health care programs, and investing in infrastructure and signs. these funds must be dispersed immediately. but it's the same time we must ensure that haste does not make waste or permit fraud or mismanagement.

striking the right balance between speed and caution has been a challenging task. for example, we recently learned that the social security administration erroneously sent about 10,000 stimulus checks for $250 each to people who were either dead or incarcerated. this mistake may cost taxpaye about $2.5 million. and it could easily have been prevented. now, instead of these funds stimulating the economy, the cial security administration must work to recover them and put controls in place to prevent similar errors in the future. today as the chairman has indicated, we will explore three issues that could blunt the economic recovery impact of the stimulus.

the first unnecessary delay. second, inadequate transparency. and third, outright fraud. fit, some reports indicate that stimulus funds are entering the economy too swly to laying the potential economic benefit. omd, however, has reported that it is on track to meet the spending taets. i'm interested in exploring with our witnesses whether the spending today has had the desired effect on the economy whether the money is being pushed out of washington. and tw the intended recipients as quickly as possible. second, i want to ensure that we're providing the american public with accurate and thorough data about stimulus projects around the country. congress directed the creation of the recovery.gov website to

increase transparency to allow the americ people to monitor stimulus spending in their own states and to help be a watchdog and report abuses. progress on recovery.gov initially has been slow, however. particularly when compared to some private sector ternatives. third, i am concerned about the growing incidence of fraud and predatory scams that appear to be on the rise as con artists prey on citizens facing financial haships. these crooks are smart and they are opportunistic. they exploit these tough economic times to lure amerins into scams that look and sound legitimate. they used phrases that we hear on news reports and see in the headlis. such as stimulus grants and government funding to confuse

victims. they manufacture forms that have an official look to them when, in fact, the servicers are not connected to any government agency or to the recovery act. to appreciate the potential that these scams have to spread and grow, possibly thousands of trusting consumers, we must recognize that the federal stimulus program is instaly recognized -- well, it's part of our economic and political vocabulary. it carries weight and credibility that the police in florida recently used the lure of economi stilus text to conduct a sting operation in which 75 people were arrted. the florida sample demonstrates the attention-drawing powers that the words economic stimulus n haven the american people. it's critical that we

aggressively pursue scam artists who brazenly use the stimulus program as the springrd for fraudulent or other unfair activities. i brought to the hearing today two examples of mailings that were sent to my constituents to mae i order to illustrate my point. the first example sent shortly after congress passe the recovery act is misleading because it resembles an official government form. it could easily been mistaken as a legitimate government offer of help and assistance. for those of you whoan see the blown up form o have it before you, it looks very much like an irs form. it provides an identification number for the individual. it has formed numbers, 009-s.

it is easily mistaken for an irs form and looks very official. theecond example is the letter that was sent to my constituent telling him that he is preapproved for consumer -- for consumer debt initiatives because he may be experiencing a financial hardship. well, most of my constituents are experiencing financial hardships regrettably nowadays. the letter implies that the initiative that was established under the economic stimulus sect of 2009. in the letter the alleged manager of the so-called credit relief division, all fictitious, but realistic-sounding tits encourages the consumer to call and refer to the case number provided. it has the washington, d.c. address. it looks very legitimate.

so i particularly look forward to hearing from the chairman today about the ftc's efforts to identify publicize, and stop stimulus scams. i also appreciate the work that the department of justice has been doing to train more than 10,000 federal state and local officials to monitor the contracting process for abuses such as collusion and rigging. these officials can help play an important watchdog role. with a combination of education and enforcement, we can help prevent exploitation and stop scams. at the same time, i hope that th hearing will serve as a warning to the con artists out there that our government is on the lookout. we will alert citizens.

we will expose scams, and criminals will be prosecuted. preventing fraud in the execution of stimulus funding is the key element to the ultimate success of the recovery act. i areciate the chairman's continued scheduling of vy important hearings to provide sufficient oversight in this area. and i look forward to hearing the testimony of our witness. thank you. >> thank y very much, senator collins. and thank you other members of the committee who are here this morning and we'll go now right to rob neighbors who's the deputy director of the office of management and budget with special responsibity for the arra. thank you very much for being with us this morning. >> good morning, mr. chairman, good morning, members of the committee. thank you for inviting me to testify abou our progress and implementing the recovery act. today i'd like to focus on four key areas that are of particular concern to the committee.

that's the rate of recovery act spending, recipient reporting, job counting, and a single audit system. the recovery act of making a difference. and a cbo is noted, one of the reasons why econoc activities expected to begin its rebound in the coming months. at the heart of his approach is an effort to accelerate the pace of spending. in previous hearings, you'v asked me whether our pace of spending is on schedule. the answer is yes. the recovery act was designed to ramp up in 2009, have its peak impact in 2010, and lay the ground work for further growth moving forward. in april, when i last testified here, feral agencies had obligated about $54 billion. today, nearly $234 billion has been obligated. when combined with more than $66 billion in tax relief about $300 billion habeen committe@ to date. importantly, agencies have outlaid nearly $94 billion in spending so far, up from $12 billion in april.

combined with the tax relief, this totals to about $159 billion. this pace of spending is consistent with our original goal of outlaying 70% of the $787 billion contained in the recovery act by the end of fiscal year 2010, and it is also consistent with cbo's initial projections. the administration has worked to meet orxceed a series of funding targets. as gao noted, they're moving to states faster than anticipated and certain programs are being implemented faster than anticipated. for example, the making work pay tax credit for middle class families war implemented about three months ahead of schedule. and all states obligated at least half of their highway funds at ast ten days before the deadline set in the recovery act. at the beginning of the summer, the vice president present the road map to recovery. a plan for ten major benchmarks that would help define the recovery act during its second 100 days and speed implementation.

last week the vice president announced the government met or surpassed each target. in addition to implementing the recovery act quickly, it is critical that we do so in a way that's transparent and accountable to the american people. that is why congress required funding recipients to provide detailed reports on the use of funds and on the job these funds have created or sad. the first report for recipients are due on october 10th. we have taken several actions to anticipate theeed of recipients and develop the appropriate leadership structure and technical capacity to manage the expected work load. three roundsf omb recipient reporting guidance has clarified the expectations on grant recipients and contractors. our guidance responds to the president's charge for greater transparency by going beyond the data elements required by law to capture significant payment to vendors. those dealers, distributors, merchants, a otherroviders of goods and services necessary to conduct federal programs. working with the recovery board, we have provided detailed instructions for registering and

submitting information at federalreporting.gov. we've worked with the board to test and fine tune the site which is now open for registration. there were about 19,000 registrants so far and we are pushing hard to increase registration. we are working with the board to conduct -- we have worked th the board to conduct seven webinars, a total of 20 differentraining session to explain their reporting responsibilities how toreview the technical solutions and dat elements for reporting on recovery funds. some challenges will require specialized attention, we are coordinating with the board to provide on-site technical assistance and state capitals and several localities during the period. we will deploy about 100 on-site liaisons to many of the largest counties and cities. the liaisons will provide rtate and local recovery act coordinators with dly data on registration and reporting

trends and to serve as a backstop for questions that are pending resolution from the board, service desk, and the agencies. a ten-person project suppord team will oversee their operations, provide training, and coordinate information flow. finally a team of 20 to 30 coordinators drawn from different agencies, positioned to get answers from agencies and omb to recipients and to compile reports documenting what lee liaisons haveearned on the ground. to improve the flow of information, we responded to a recommendation and implemented a new state notification process, which requires agencies to notify states within two days of any grants awarded within their boundaries. and will provide for up to date listings of new contracts, as well. we are committed to strengthening the reporting processeand collecting the data that we need to track spending, count jobs, and deliver on the president's promise of unprecedented transparency and accountability. later today, the white house

council of economic advisers will release the fst quarterly macroeconomic impact analysis. i'm not in a position to discuss the specifics in this hearing, but i did want to take this opportunity to explain to the committee the differences between the report data and the data to be submitted in october. the data will differ in several important ways. first the recovery act reports encompass only those projects and activities funded by relief grant and is other investment spending. that comprises about one-third of the tal spending in the act. the a report, however, will assess the total program from grant spendg to tax relief to safety net programs. second, recipients are only required to report on direct jobs and not additional job impacts that may be occurring beyond that. cea will look at direct as well as indirect economic benefits. finally the october data are driven by the quaty and quantity of information provided

by funding recipients. the completeness of their will determine the quality of the october job count. we're working to urge them to register and report on time and expect the data to improve with each successive quarter of reporting. the two different job estimates are not intended to reconcile with one another. as my final point today, i'd like to focus on some changes we've made in response to concerns about the single audit process. when i first appeared bore the committee, senator mccatskill expressed concerns. gao echoed her concerns, both have pointed to issues, including the time lag that exists in the cycle and the fact that the single audit process might not cover all programs, it should be examined. in response, omb staff worked with this committee and gao to develop a solution that could be implemented quickly and in a targeted manner.

the collaboration is ongoing. we have modified omb circular 183, such that the majority of programs with recovery act funding will be audited. and our august 6th addendum to this supplemtal stresses that auditors should be prompt in relaying any information that they discover about deficiencies or weaknesses. also, we are planning to use pilot authority to improve internal control for major programs. as part ofhis program, omb will work with agencies to identify at least ten at-risk recovery act programs that should be audited on an expedited basis of six months versus the normal nine-month time frame. to participate in the program, states must consent to being audited with respect to at least two of these programs. as an incentive, participant states will be exempt fr being audited on smaller, lower risk programs. in addition, we have responded

to concerns about state oversight capacity by issuing a memondum that allows states to use up to .5% of funds for administrative costs and to obtain those funds more quickly than traditionalchedules would have been allowed. we continue to listen to your concerns and lk forward to continuing our constructive dialogue about the critical sues over the coming weeks and months, particularly as we approach the october 10th reporting deadline. thank you, again, for this opportunity to testify. >> thank yo mr. neighbors for the opening statement. you touched on some of the items that i certainly wanted to ask you about. i look forward to the queion period. he comes to u todays chairman of the federal trade commission. we're pleased to have you with us. and as you can hear fromenator collins' opening statement and my own, we have a real concern about people trying to take advantage of this stimulus program and the hard times that a lot of people are experiencing. so it's reassuring even before i

hear what you have to say based on what inow of you that you're on duty in this regard. >> well, thank you, senator for those kind but perhaps undeserved words. chairman liberman, senator mccain, senator burress, senator corn, i'm chairman of the federal trade commission and i do appreciate the opportunity to be here today. unlike my colleagues on this panel, who are talking about frauds directed at the federal government, i'm going toe talking about frauds falsely invoking the federal government but direcd at american consumers and what we do with the federal trade commission to try to stop these scams. my oral statement highlights a series of fraud cases that the commission has broht involving false promises of government ants, part of operation shortchange, a sweep of 1 legal actions announced on july 1st that we undertook with the department of justice and 14 state partners.

in addion to grant scams, you mentioned senator liberman and senator collins, we challenged a variety of frauds exploiting people harmed by the economic downturn. all told, with our federal and state partners, we brought 389 cases in four fud sweeps in just the past fe months. mr. chairman, today's con artists, the challenging economy presents a golden opportunity. sadly it's an opportunity to prey on the economic distress of american consumers and bilk them out of their hard-earned savings. these malfactors have set to explt the government stimulus plan. their websites promising grant money, requiring cmers to pay in advance or provide personal financial information, though they promiseo rescue people fm troubled financial waters, after they take the money, they throw the consumers an anchor instead of a lifeline. some have used the images of

high-ranking government officials to add legitimacy to their misrepresentations. this poster shows one site, part of the grand connect scam, which featured images of president obama and vice president biden. just two weeks ago at the commission's request, a district court judge temporarily shut down these sites and we have a preliminary hearing tomorrow. whatever a website may say, the federal government does not award grants to individuals to pay persal expenses or bills nor does president obama hand out stimulus money for leisure travel. let me tell you about another scam, grant writers institute. grant writers claimed the consumers could get money from e economic stimulus, together withtate attorneys general from kansas, minnesota, and north carolina earlier this summer, we filed a complaint against the defendants allegedly responble for this scam. the defendants sent mailings, including post guards such as

the one that we blew up on this poster. and i quote, you are guaranteed a $25,000 grant from the u.s. government. use your money to pay bills, start or expand the business, pay your children's education, help you purchase or fix up your own home, travel the world. and mr. chairman, i am not making this up. and i know that those grants don't go for leisure travel do they? >> no. or individuals. >> another mailing shown in this poster from the same company used and this is very much like what you showed senator collins, the official-looking seals and as you can see, this postcard says and i quote, official government infoation, $25,000 rate, $25,000 grant from the u.s. government. consumers who responded by calling a toll free number heard this and i'm quoting again. if you've been reading the papers, you know that recently our government released over $700 billion into the private sector. what you probably don't know is that there is another $300 billion that must be given ay this yea to people just like

you. ultimately these consumers did not get grants, but many did fork over $69 to the defendants, and the defendants talked others into paying several thousand dollars for additional upstre so-called grant services. just last we,everal of the defendants responsible forhe grant writers institute scam agreed to a preliminary injunction halting their scheme. i will briefly highlight two other ftc cases involving grants. firstrants for you now allegedly promised for a fee accessed expertise in getting free government gran to pay personal expenses and places illegal robo calls advertising quote free grant money. its website included images of president obama and the u.s. capitol building. neither company, of course, falitated grants to consumers, but both pocketed money from them. and these were cases, by the

way, involved 270,000 potential victims. we'll also follow up on the poster and on the entity that you showed early in yr opening statement. it's conceivable that website has been taken down because a lot of the websites have been taken down. we'll follow up on that and get back to you. >> our actions here did not stand alone, they were part of operation shortchange, which also challenged scams that preyed on unemployed americans, preying on the spirit of those looking to start theirwn business, promise much-needed credit to consumers, but instead delivered on unnecessary debt. because we did on this week we regularly worked together with state attorneys general, including those from connecticut and maine. and th other federal agencies on sweeps like this hud and treasury, and working together really can hava much bigger impact. mr. chairman, we bring a loof fraud cases, but we prefer no

one falls for these scams in the first place. one part of that is to educa consumers and we do that, i think, very well as we hope the materials demonstrate. the commission has reached out to legitimate companies. at our request, several major online ad companies, including facebook and google moved the screen out ads providing grants for individual consumers. let me commend these companies for their help. let me also commend this committee for all of your support. there's a lot more to be done in this area, and we do have ideas about some ways you can make us more effective. for example, by grong our agency, which is actually aut 35% smaller than it was 30 years ago, though the america population has grown by more than 30% during that time. but i&m happy to report that the president has committed to increasing our resources and i'm also happy to expand on this issue at my next appropriations committee testimony before senator collins, and i'm happy

to answer any questions you have. thank you so much, and i'll yield the bance of my time. >> thanks very much, chairman. your statement actually stified my confince as expressed earlr. and i thank you for it. next we're going to hear from earl duvaney. >> i'm on a leave of absence. >> yeah. this is a full-time job. >> iis. >> today mr. duvaney comes to us as chairman of the accountability and transparency board which was created by the stimulus act. we look forward to your testimony now. >> mr. chairman, rajking membe collins, and members of the committee, i want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to provide an update on the recent and planned activities of the recery board. my testimony today will address the current status and future direction of the board's missions and after my opening remarks, i'll be glad to answer any questions you have.

i'd like to begin by addressing some of the suggestions put forward by members of this committe. when i last testified before you in april. one recommendation was that the board seek the assistance of publicizing and creating awareness of recovery-related scams like the chairman just spoke about. given the perpetrators frequently target seor populations, the board has since reached out to both of these organizations as well as the ftc and the national associations of attorney generals. and although we'veeen a decline in recovery scams since the initial period ofhe laws enactment, the board's relationships with these groups are n in place in the event that these scams begin to rise again. another suggestion made at the april hearing was that the board nsider employing former journalists to make board's website more reader friendly. since that hearing, t board has hired former journalists and staff positions where the writing skills will be put to good use.

the redesign of recovery.gov has been completed. and federalreporting.gov has be created, performance tested, and open for registration. as mentioned earlier, more than 19,000 recipients as of last night registered since the site was launched on august 17th. howeve we are actively encouraging recipients to register before. the fully enhanced version of recovery.gov i scheduled for release prior t october 10th. we'll provide visitors with a visually pleasing, user friendly, and highly interactive bsite. for instance, we'll have a mapping pacity that will allow visitors t search for spending all the way down to their own zip codes or congressional districts for that matter. the redesign isurrently undergoing user testing by citizen groups and various states around the country. as you maysense, i'm very hopefuabout the new features

that recovery.gov 2.0 and the data the website will display next month. however, i do not believe that just throwing da up on a website classifies- it classifies as transparency. nor am i under the illusion that the first quarter or even the first several qrters our reporting will be free of data-quality problems. this kind of data reporting represents new territory and brings the potential for new complications. the government has never required recipients to port to this degree. while i'm on the subject of dada quality, mr. chairman, i think a distinction needs to be made between data quality and data integrity. although the board will play a role, chiefly by reviewin the agency's processes for ensuring the quality of the data, the board's main goal will be one of data integrity. that is the board will strive to ensure that the data on recovery.gov is a true reflection of what recipients

report. including any subsequent modifications made to that data. planning to carefully track all of the changes to the data and make that information on recovery.gov for all to see. the prime responsibility, however, rests with the recipients of the funds and the agencies distributing those funds as they are in the best position to know thedetails associatith these fund indeed, any direct involvement by i.g. and the assessing of data quality process could r afoul in participating the data process. couldun afoul in the long standing phibition on functions of a department or agency. although the status recovery.gov receives most of the public's attention, transparency is only part of the board's mission as you well know. the board continues to focus lly on the second mission of accountability and the goal of minimizing fraud and waste. at this point, i would like to expand briefly on my view of

wae in the context of the board's mandate. whenever i say that the board is trying to minimize waste, i'm referring to an objective assessment of contracting practices rather than a subjective viewpoint of the nature of a particular expenditure or project. my view is that aside from being mindful of the recovery act's flat out prohibition on funding for aquarium, zoos, and alike, the purpose of the board is not toeigh in on spending choices that come down to an agency's judgment or opinion. such decisions are as a sult of the decision and policy determinationse by layers of watchful dividuals. instead, when the board focuses on waste and the spending of recovery funds, we would be looking principally at the incurring of unnecessary costs due to ineffective practices or internal controls. the board continues to strategize ways to not only receive reports of fraud, waste, and management, and then refer emo the appropriate ig, but

also how to anaze trends in light of open source data. to that end, the board has recently put out a solicitation for analytical tools and personnel that can best extract and harness existing information in order to make the board's referrals more value-added for the igs and ao contribute greatly to risk-based for fraud. we have high hopes that this risk-based fraud prevention detection program will serve as a future model for government oversight. th board's compliance and investigative staff also continues to review recovery fund procurements as they occur coordinating with ig offices on a myriad of issues. thus far, we've referred to more than 100 matters to various igs to ensure and heighten scrutiny of specific procurements. these issues range from instance of administrative oversight to issues requiring resolution.

the board will be implenting a hot line where the public can report potential cases of fraud, waste, and mismanage. after researching several hot line options, the board selected a hot line that will allow citizens to call, e-mail, f, mail letters to trained operators and the board staff ll then use this information to refer complaints to the relevant igs f investigation or other suitable response. this enhanced hot line solution will be launched in conjunction with the updated recovery.gov in early october. in conclusion, mr. chairman, i look forward to returning to this committee once we' begun to unvl to the american public the full scope of recovery spending. these will be interesting times. i do not claim to be a prognosticator. some of the instantaneous reaction may be negative, but i think there will be substantial positive reaction, as well.

whatever the short-term effects, however, i truly believe that the long-term effectsf such transparcy will be decidedly positive. that is why i remain optimistic that the board and i will be able to achieve success for this granperiment created by the recovery act. and i firmly believe what we accomplish here will lay the ground work for how future government spending takes place. mr. chairman, members ofhe committee, that concludes my oral remarks and i standeady to answer any questions. thanks very much. an informational question. we were impressed, i was, by the number of hits on the recovery.gov site. are there any current numbers on that? >> it's gone down a ltle. i think people are waiting a i certainly am for the new site. >> right. >> so i'm going to suggest to you that when that new sit goes up, there'll be a phenomenal amount of hits. >> yeah. go ahead. yeah. senator mccain. what are the numbers now?

do you know? mr. neighbors do you have a quick answer to that? >> i don't. >> i think there were about 32,000 hits per minute, not too long ago. >> which is down from what it was originally? >> which was down. >> that's still substantial. >< it's still substantial. and a hit doesn't necessarily mean that somebody comes in and spends time ther it's a little more quite frankly the more appropriate measurement is how long they stay. and how often they come back. so those are the kind of metrics we're going t use when the new site goes up. >> and again, the new site going up is october -- >> well, we're probably the first part of october, maybe october 5th. >> yeah. yeah. okay, so as soon as you have data on the hits and it would really help us comparatively after you have so time to get started, i think the committee

would be interested. >> next is the managing director for strategicssues at the government accountability office. thanks for being here. >> thankyou, mr. chairman, a senator collins, members of the committee. it's indeed a great honor to be hereoday to discuss our july report on the recovery act. as you know, the act specifies several roles for gao, including conducting bimonthl reviews of selected states and localities uses of funds. i should mention that as you knowhe gao has made a significant commitment to its recovery act work and i'd be remiss if i didn't acknowledge and express my gre appreciation for the extraordinary efforts that my colleagues across gao and we fanned out across the country to make sure that we're providing the work that can support congressional oversight. and they've done just a remarkable job on that. our july report the second in respse to the act mandate addressed first the uses of funds, second the approach is taken by states and localities

to ensure accountability. and thir states' plans to evaluate the recovery act funds they receive. the report has our findings, mixed recommendations, and discusses the status of actions and responses to the recommendations we made in our april report. our third report will be out towards the end of september. as y know in states across the country, the budget situation is bad and in many cases, the futu looks even blear. and that's in a sense the good news. the states are being forced to take dramatic actions to balance the budgets, including staff layoffs, furloughs, and program cuts. however,nd consistent with the purposes of the act,he recovery act is helping the state stabilize their budgets and minimize the reductions and painful cuts they have to take in services and minimize the need for tax increases. many report they would have to made further deep cuts in services and programs without the receipt of recovery act funds. while the funds have helped cushion the impact, the current

revenue estimates indicate that additional state actions will be needed in the coming years. nonetheless, significant recovery act funds are moving out to states a localities. overall, across the united states as of august 28th, the most recent data that we have, treasury outlaid about $45 billion the estimated $49 billion in fisl year2009. i should mention or just to underscore, these funds to states and localities are just a subset of the overall expenditures going out this year that you, mr. chairman, talked about and mr. neighbors talked about, which include, obviously, the tax -- the tax provisions and direct payments t individuals as well as others. nonetheless, it's $45 billion is a sizable amount of money. more than 3/of the fedal outlays have been provided by increasing medicaid and the department ofducation state fiscal stabilizationfund.

in addition as of september 1, the department of transportation obligated about $18 billion for almost 7,000 highway infrastructure, and other eligible projects. d.o.t. has reimbursed states about $1.4 billiof to pay for these 7,000 projects. across the nation, almost half of the obligations had been for payment improvement projects. half of the highway obligations. in with regards to accountability, we repord in july that the single audit reporting deadline does n provide audit results and time to address, identify problems and did not effectively respond toecovery act to recovery act risks. we also noted state auditors needed additional flexibility and funding to undertake their single audit act responsibhlities. since our july report, omb has moved out on a pilot program that is to have auditors provide early notice of internal control deficiencies. if properly scoped tochieve sufficient coverage of rovery act programs, we believe the

pilot program would addre concerns about the timeliness of single outed act reporting. this the success of the pilot program in our view is very important to@@@@@ and efforts of recovery act auditing. i want to express my appreciation to the learship that this committee has shown over t legislation that congress is now considering in that regard. as mr. devaney and mr. neighbors noted, the next big challen wille recipient reporting. direct recipients of recovy act funds including states and localities are expected to report quarterly on the number

of measures including use of funds and estimates of the number of jobs created and retained. the first of these reports is due in october. omb issued guidance in june that established requirements. in recent weeks federal agencies issued their own guidance. omb has provided additional clarificions on recovery act reporting. omb is also preparing to deploy the regional federal liaisons that were noted to provide the on site assistance and establish the call center for entities that do not have an on site liaison. these efforts in our view are both welcome and sorely needed. nonetheless, i agree with mr. devaney when he mentions that recipient reporting especlly for this first round will pose a significant challenge for many entiti. we have mandate under the act to comment on the jobs estimates along with cbo in those reports

and will be reporting on that in november. let me conclude my comments at that point and obviously i'd be happy to take any questions that you all have. >> thanks very much, mr. mihm. thank you all. it was a good beginning. we'll have seven-minute rounds of questions by the members who are here. mr. neighbors, let me begin by going back to the question that i raised in my opening statement whh is acknowledging some of the positive indicators in the economy. general vi among econosts that the stimulus has had a positive effect. yet there is this sub porn persistance of high unemployment. and with that and other factors, a continuing anxiety among the american people about their and r country's economic future which itself has depressing effect, of course, o the economy, including on spending.

so the question is can we, and i suppose should we attempt to speed up spending and if possible t implementation of the tax cuts to accelere the recovery of the economy? i derstand a you said in your opening statement that in the normal course of what was projected we will be spending, putting much more money in the recovery act in 2010 than we have in 2009. my questn is, should we b trying t accelerate it even further to accelerate the recory of the economy? >> this is an issue that the vice presint has taken a personal interest in. what he has done is he meets with cabinet agencies once a montto go through recovery act issues. first and foremost is what

opportunies are available to speed up recover act spending where whave made some progress. the first is an acknowledgment that there's been a focus on out lays. in certain programs obligations have a tremendous economic benefit as well. that is one thing that the federal government has direct control over. i'll give you an example of that. >> also give us auick layman's definition of out lei and obligation. >> yes, sir. what it boils down to is essentially an obligation is when the federal government allows recipnt to start spending money. an out lei is when the recipient actually spends the money itself. >> it's like the authorization and then the actual check in the account. >> absolutely. with regard to a set of programs like transportation, for example, we have obligated a fairly large amount of money, which means we've given the states the ality to start spending that money. the states have been relatively

slow to spend it. that doesn't mean it doesn't have an economic impact, however. what's actually going on behind the scenes is because the way the transportation programs a set up, the money been used to reimburse projects that have already started, already beginning. so what many stes do is just knowing th fact that the money is available to them to be reimbursed later on allows them to go off and start the projects right away. what you will oftentimes see is obligations that sit there for large periods of time and then a tremenus amount of outlays that come in the at the d. in those instances, in froms like transportation, the availability of the money, the obligation, has a tremendous economic benefit. in gther programs, there are more sensitive problem that we're trng to work with the agencies to try to address. for example, we're very focused on removing, as many bureaucratic hurdles that exist within agencies as possible to allow the money to go out as

quickly as possible. we're trying to do that in such a way to be sensitive to the propriate oversight that needs to be done over spending. but we're trying to remov unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles including thin omb. things as simple as doing concurrent review of a project have helped move projects out -- it allows us to speed projects up from taking months to perhaps taking weeks. and we're looking at ef every opportunity that we can to do that. the second point i just wanted to make is we are trying to take lessons learned fro particular agencies and trying to apply them across programs. for example, when the federal government spends money on programs that relate to tribes, there's a uque set of issues that popup, and they pop up across different agencies. what we're trying to do is transplant the information that we're learning from particular agencies and tryg to educate all the agencies about the

hurdles that they're going to run into and making sure that is taken into account whenhey're developing their spend plans. >> okay. so bottom line, based on what you' said and the question thatou've told us the vice president is regularly asking, am i correct to conclude tt the administration feels that the more it can accelerate the spending of stimulus money in the coming fiscal year, in the coming mont, the betr it will be in encouraging a faster recovery? >> yes. >> let me ask you this question. i don't have a lot of time. so it's maybe hard for you to answer. i assume jus based on common sense that the more w accelerate the infusion of imulus act funding, both spending andax cuts, the better affect we'll have onhe unemployment rate, that is, it is more likely toreate more

jobs. is that a fair conclusion? >> it is a fair conclusion, but it's a tricky conclusion as well. unemployment tends to be a lagging economic indicator. just out dlooet laiing doesn't mean we'll have employment benefits right away. the faster we can expend money in a responsibleway, the sooner the jobs will come online that's really what we're trying to do, spend money in a responsible way to create good solid jobs that can benefit the economy over the long term. >> a final question. i was struck -- obviously we put a fair amount of money into the ecomy in tax cuts in this first period of months, $65 billion or $66 billion. we still have by the estimates i've seen over $225 billion, billion more in tax cuts und the stimulus act. just give us a brief description of what those are, why that number is so high. i think many of us were focused

onhe make-work-pay reductions and the withholding tax that people have seen. what else is coming? >> i would point to two things real iefly. the first point is the tax relief was two-year tax reef i was always thought that roughly half of the money would come out in 2009 and roughly half of the money would come out in 2010. so that's part of wt you're eing. the other thing that you're seeing is the -- a largehunk of the money is related to amt alternative minim tax. that comes due next year. so next yeare will see almost all of that money outlay. >> in her words, when people are paying their taxes next april -- >> exactly. >> ,- there would be a reduction in the taxes they would otherwise have paid? >> that's exactly right. >> i don't know if you have a number offhand? >> i don't. but i can provide that to the

committee for the record. >> is the nber that i've been given, that there's yet $225 billion more in tax cuts sound right? >> i think that might be a little bit high. it's well over $150 billn, but i would have to get you the specific number. >> okay. thank you very much. senator collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. nabors, pviously m devaney has estimated that as much as 7% of the recovery act funds may be losto fraud and abuse. that amounts to an astonishing $55 billion. we've seen some disturbing examples already. the social security administration, as i mentioned in my opening statement, first sent out about eight to 10,000 checks to individuals who had

died then two months later we learned that the government also sent checks to people that are incarcerated. the gao mentioned today th importance of internal control to prevent these kinds of improper payments from happening in the first place. what precisely is omb doing to ensure that internal controls are in place across the federal governme to prevent fraud and improper payments? >> we are doing two things. we've increased the amount to state and local governments to do their controls and chengs. we're setting up a pilot program at would allow more extensive

and early review of programs and highlighting of systems to stop problems before they actually arrive. the second thing we're doing and i want to give me devaney significant question for this. when he came on boar the thing he mentioned to me was that for this to work, we nd to make surehat the ig and the oversight is brought in -- is part of the program discussions, not all on the back end. all you're doing then is catchi people after the fact. so we're having on going discussions with our colleagues at the departmelt of jusce, ftc, recovery board and with the igs to incorporate as mh as possible both realtime lessons learned and best practice program management into the on going activities of the participating federal agencies. we're doing that on an ongoing basis. >> mr. mihm, are you satisfied with omb's efforts in thisarea? >> they've certainly been doing

an awful lot, senator collins. saying that, there's still more that all of us can be doingnd should be doing in this rega. one of the things shortly after the act was passed i know when you had your first hearing in ely march, the acting controller general testified he got together with the ig community, separately with state and loc auditors and thrgh conference calls with the igs, a group meeting here in washinon, to collectively try and understand what are our audit responsibilities? let's make sure we're getting the best bang collective dhely for the buck, that there's no overlap, our efforts are coordinated. 're continuing to do that. we're focused on making sure we're getng out the best practices and fraud prevention and internal controls, down to the federal level and the state and local level as well. there's this continuing concerted effort to get it out

ther our continuing concern is we think that states and both in the audit community and the program community in the states needs to continue to do work dog the risk assessments and making sur that they have the controls in place down at the state vel to effectively oversee and make sure that the funds are being properly spent. >> i think that that is a very worthwhile effort. but clearly there's something amiss when the social security administration can send out nearly 10,000 checks that shouldn't have been sent out. so i think we need to more aggressively lk at the internal controls in the federal government as well as the state and local level. mr. liebowitz, let me switch to my concern about consumer fraud. firs i'm very pleased with the work that the ftc is doing in this area. it's absolutely essential. you discussed four cases tha

the ftc has bn pursuing. do you have any estimate at this point of the number of people who are being@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) to get it back and we're inhe process of doing so. isn't that great? it's about $3 million. we think of this as a small part of the -a smart part of the approach we're taking to going after scammers who are taking advantage of consumers who are feeling legimate financial anxiety or having problems paying their mortgage for exampl we did another sweep involving foreclosure

rescue scams and mortgage modification scams. we did it with attorneys general. and that one, for example, probably involves bilons of dollars in potential losses overall. in the financial stimulus area, it's a littleit of a whack mole problem. when we did this announcement, we kngw a bunch of websites, we put them on alert. they went down. that's good. but sometimes they pop up again. we keep monitoring the internet. we watch commercials, look at our consumeratabase and try to go after these mall factors as quicklas we can. >> i think a lot of the work that you'reoing well is probably the tip of theceberg because what i've seen in my state is a lot of times the senior citizens who are victims are too embarrassed to go forth and try to file a complaint or

they're too concerned about where do they go, they don't even know where to begin? my last question on this round for you. what advice would you give consumers w belie that they may have been taken advantage of? who should they go to? where should they rn? >> wl, i would say the first thing is, if the you think you've been taken advantage of and scammed, check your bank account records and credit card records. there's a mechanism, especially in the credit card context for consumers to challenge unfair or inappropriate charges. then, you know,e have a website, www.ftc.gov. people can send colaints to us. they go to something called nsumer sentinel. we look at consumer sentinel all the time to monitor complaints and go after the first mall factors. state attorneys general have been very involved, particularly when the scams have a local

dimension. if it's involving an economic stimulus scam -- first of all, there are no indivual grants from the economic imul. second of all, there is a government website run by hhs called grants.gov. if you want to check, it's worth checking on that website becau you can find -- it's an official website, not just an official-looking bsite. you can confirmhether something you've read about or someone who has i'm pour tuned you is legitimate or whether they're just out for your money. >> thank you. >> thanks senator collins. we'll go to the senators in order of arrival. the list i have in this order, senators tester, aureus, coburn, mccain, mccass skill and pry your. >> i want to thank the witnesses for being here today. before i get to my quesons, i want to begin by saying few words about a story that bothered me. it's aotion when it comes to

spending dollars, recovery act dolls on ports of entry on our nohern border. recently there'seen a few folks opinion pointed to one port in northeastern montana. in particular, white tails in daniels county, a part of the country that is vast and open. i mean that, very vast, vf open. some people have asked me why the port is getting rebuilt with recovery act dollars even though it's not as crowded as some of the other ports. a lot of reasons, none of which to say there's asbestos issues. the port is 45 years old. a lot hashanged over the last 45 years when it comes to our national security. it wasn't my decision. but i will tell you it was cbp's decision. i will tell you i have pushed cbp on the northern border to make it re secure. they did decide to upgrade all 23 ports along that border.

those ports are oed bthe cvp. the northern border is complicated. it is wide open and uncorroded in certain areas. it is very corroded in the other areas. there's issues of waters when it comes to the great lakes region. we have to keep our eyes open as far as it comes to drug smuggleror terrorists that due harm to our country. for me it's an issue about making thisountry as safe as we possibly can, keeping illegal immigrants out and drugs away from our kids and neighbors. that all starts by making our ports of ent as strong as they can be, by closing the gaps and t pretend that the threats only exi on the southern border. our borders are only as strong as its weakest link. i can give you plenty examples of what's transpired over the last few yea of drugs, potential terrorists wanting to cross. the fact is that i think this committee needs to work, and we need to work with cbp to make

sure no taxpayer dollars are wasted along the border, and th we maximize our security option along all our borders and pos. i know our community will join me on that. thank you, mr. chairman for that. further questions. there's beenmany, many documents. the ranki member brought so up. you gentlemen brought some up about people who are getting scammed. the thought occurred to me, what's the penalty? catch these guys red-handed. what's the penalty? >> that's a great question, senator tester. we are a civil law enforcement agency. what we do fst is try to shut down the scammers so they can't do further harm. sometimes we can get redress for the injured consumers a the victims. we try to do as much of that as we can. although sometimes money has dissipated. for the most part we don't have finding authority unlike 47 state attorneys general. >> does anybody have the authority to put these folks in the clinic? >> what we do, two things,

sometimes we pair with state agencies because they hae finding authority. with the most egregious cases we pass them along to the department of justicfor prosecution. some of the worst offenders do get prosecuted and do go to jail. >> it just occurs to me. i was out i august and there was ads ctinually about how you could personally benefit from recovery act dollars in this bailout era that they called it. was baloney. i knew it was. but the fact is these guys are reaching out to people through a bunch of mediums. you talked about the internet. they're doing it on the radi i think if there's no penalty, what the heck if you're of that ilk. >> we supported in our reauthorization and part of the consumer protection agency proposal by the president and treasury, we support still a finding authority because the majority of the commission does because we feel it's important to have a sancon. >> i actually support jail time.

>> we won't have the ability to give jail time, but we certainly support -- >> maybe, mr. chairman, we need to visit about opportunities, i mean that in aegative sense, funts to make these folks think about what they're doing. >> i think you're on to something, senator tester. there's obviously no better deterrent than to convict somebody who has really been a scai artist and put them in jail for a while. the fact we're all seeing these ads in various media means people are making money in scams. >> thank you. mrnabors, just this week i pushed your agey to get some money out for someater projects along the northern tier. i appreciate your efforts in that. these particular water projects go -- some go to indian country, some go to -- but they're mainly indian water projects. i guess the question is for you or mr. mihm, since they're

sovereign nations, andhe money goes out, talked about local liaisons. do you have the ability to do oversight in sovereign natis, to make sure theoney does get to the ground once it leaves our hands? chris, do you want to -- yes, we do. our local liaison are limited, but we do have the ability to -- working through the overall structure of the oversight community, both the igs and the agencies who work very closely with the travel governments to make sure the money is spent the way we intended it to be spent and to provide assistance to the tribal governments in terms of applying for the funding. there's a double edge to that that we want to ensure is done. >> mr. mihm? >> yes. we have ovarsight as well. although mos of our efforts, senator tester, are focused on 16 states and the district of columbia which collectively give about two-thirds of the money

and two-thirds of the population. >> we appreciate that. i want to talk about conacting for a second. i'm just about out of ti from what i found out, there are a lot of different levels of contract. there's a national general contractor. there's potentially a regional general contractor and there may be a bunch of contract crack tort in between that before you get to the guys running the shovels and doing the work. do you ever look at that system and make recommendations saying, you know what, everybody is taking their 10% or 20% or whatever theytake, and by the time we get down to the folks running the backhoes and pouring theconcrete, there's not near as much left as there should. do you ever make recommendations and say why is this done this y? >> yes, we have. to add on anotheromplicating feature of that is that you can have -- you're seeing this play out in the recovery act. you can have federal requirements in contracting and of course once the money goes to the states and if they contract out, there are different requirements very often including different definitions

of what it means to competitively bid a contract. so it can force an understanding of 50 different contracting regimes and states. so it's both a very tiered and a very complexly tiered approach to contracting as we cross government. >> i would like your opinion on what we can do from a poly statement to take complexity out of it there's a gener conactor in afghanistan and contract along the northern border. they get ahold of the local folks to do it. whyren't we dealing with the folks, with the folks that know what they're doing? that's the question? i'd appreciate any ideas you have on that. >> we'll get you thatn short order, sir. >>thanks, senator tester. senator burress. >> tnk you, mr. chairman and meers of the committee.

i'm impressed with your testimony. you're doing a great job and we appreciate that. mr. nabors, we have a bill that's been in this committee and it's been held up somewhere called 1064 which would give .5% financing to those local state auditors and finance officers. you said that you're giving money to state and local governments for that increased responsibility. is there a dollar amount that you have on that? how are you -- >> we allow up to .5% to be used for administrative costs and for oversight. i think what 1064 does is allow an additional .5% to be used. we've indicated our strong support for that bill. >> mr. chairman, that bill has been held up somewhere. we've got to get that bill to the floor. the house has already passed i.

as being a former state controller, former state finance officer, we need the funds. we don't want to come up short in that regard. mr. liebowitz, on the consu fraud problem, probably a response to my colleague, senator tester, what we have on the fraud issue, and being a former attorney general in my state, is that we're dealing with a consumer being defrauded out of their funds. these are not reallyederal funds that they're using. they're using the vehicle of the federal government to defraud the consumer. they're more of a local prosecutorial responsible there. am i correct in that, sir? >> yes. that's exactly what we do. we do a lot of education on the front end to try to prevent consumers from being victims. but yes, i thi a lot of this, almost all of what we do involves, at least in the stimulus scam context, involves people who are falsely

representing themselves as facilitating individual stimulus grants to consumers. it's not entirely local in the sense that a lot of this is internet related. so it has a sort of national scope. >> some of that, they would try to skim some stim lutz money themselves. certnly the stimulus money is suect to be a victim of fraud as well. what you see in terms of mostly the senior citizens, they've been advertised, send us some money so you can get you stimulus money. that's more of a local issue with the states attorneys general. >> that's right. that's why we work with state agency sglgs please work with my foer colleagues. the ags -- >> no, no. the ags are terrific. they're on the case in this area. >> and the state auditors as well. >> going back to your point and nator tester's int, a lot of the cases we're bringing, they're really criminal fra cases. we're prosecuting tm because is