quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. ms. ayotte: i would ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. ayotte: mr. president i come to the floor this morning to speak about the bill that we have pending on the floor a law that is long past due for reexamination and reauthorization, the elementary

and secondary education act. this law was last upsedated in -- updated in 2001 as the no child left behind. 14 years is far too long to go without updating the primary law focused on an issue that is so important to the future of our country. ensuring that children in new hampshire and across this country receive a high-quality education. i'm the mother of a seven-year-old and a ten-year-old and this could not be a more important issue to me and to, i know, to other mothers across the country. many parents teachers, and school leaders in new hampshire have expressed to me their concerns about no child left behind and so it is past time for us to update and improve this law. i believe education decisions are best made locally including decisions about school curriculum and how education dollars are spent. while its goals of accountability were very important and laudable, no child left behind unfortunately imposed a one-size-fits-all

regime on every school in every state in this country. no child left behind imposed unworkable mandates and unreasonable goals that led many schools in america to be labeled as failing with no reasonable way to get off the failing list. and congress's inaction up to this point has led to a system where the federal secretary of education can dictate to states what priorities they must set in order to receive a conditional waiver from parts of this law. this senate's bipartisan education reform bill, the every child achieves act that is on the floor right now would return decision-making on education where it belongs: back to states, local schools teachers and parents. i would like to thank chairman alexander and ranking member murray of the help committee for conducting an open debate on this critically important legislation and working

together. i'm encouraged that republicans and democrats worked together and overcame disagreements to move this important legislation forward. that's how the senate should work and that's what the american people deserve from their elected representatives. like all granite staters, i want children in our state and across our country to have even better opportunities than our generation has had. and the foundation for future success starts with a quality education. every parent knows that, and that's why this is such an important topic that we've been debating on this floor. granite staters have shared with me some of the biggest challenges facing our students because of no child left behind, and every child achieves seeks to address them. for example as i mentioned, no child left behind created a one-size-fits-all system that ignored differences between different parts of the country and primarily used tests as the

measure of accountability at the expense of other important measures of success like student progress, attendanceates parent and teacher engagement, among others. we've seen what happened under this law over the last decade. schools are overtesting and educators are teaching for the test as opposed to making sure that our children really learn the topic matter. that's not how we should be educating our young people. we want to make sure that they really have a firm understanding of the concepts that they're learning in school. the every child achieves act restores these powers to the states makes sure that states have the flexibility that they need to develop their own ways to test and measure accountability. i know from our local communities, other local school boards that they are focused every single day in their own communities in making sure that

their communities are delivering the best quality education and understand the geography and the different challenges facing their communities. and it's important that we restore that decision-making to them. this bill will let states decide how to measure student achievement and school success within their own borders. so what might be right and work for north dakota may not be the right approach for a state like new hampshire. and so this allows each state and locality really to engage in what's best for the state. the every child achieves act also prohibits washington from mandating or incentivizing any states to adopt any particular curriculum standards like common core. this is an issue that many of my constituents have raised with me. and so this bill will, again restore this decision-making to

the states and to the local decision-making and to parents and teachers. in doing so, this bill reaffirms that it should be the state not the federal government, that determines education standards. each state is different and uniquely situated to determine the curriculum and accountability measures that best fit their needs of their students without interference from washington. we don't need the "washington knows best" attitude. we know that the best decisions are made locally. this bill includes additional reforms that will help strengthen our education system and better prepare our young people to join the rapidly changing and competitive global 21st century workforce. it ensures parents can still have data about their state district and school's education performance so that they can make informed decisions about their child's education. it increases support for high-quality charter schools

giving parents greater choice to determine the best learning environment for their children. it creates state-based need assessments to help identify low-performing schools and allows states, not the federal government to determine how to best help low-performing schools. all of these reforms are much-needed commonsense steps toward improving our education system and i believe more can be done to specifically help students in new hampshire. that's why i appreciate the willingness of senator alexander and murray to work with me to allow votes on several bipartisan amendments that i have included in this bill and i know that this has been a develop open process. this is -- this has been a very open process. this is how the senate should operate. i was able to work across the aisle on a number of of amendments that address new hampshire's priorities. the first of those is strengthening our mental health

first aid training. ensuring school personnel have critical mental health first aid training to improve the safety and well-being of students in schools in new hampshire and across the country. and this is something i've heard so much from our local communities about. that's why i was pleased to see that the senate adopted my amendment on mental health awareness training programs yesterday. i would very much like to thank senator blumenthal for working with me to include this important amendment that will help school personnel safely address mental health issues earlier, before they reach a crisis stage. i know an issue that i've heard so much about in new hampshire about that 21st century workforce is stem education. when it comes to developing the high-skilled workers we need to compete, we must ensure that we have better stem education in our schools for that next

generation of american innovators. promoting education initiatives and job training in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is critical to ensuring that we stay on the cutting edge and that we ensure that our children have the skills they need to get those good-paying jobs when they leave high school and postsecondary education and beyond in college education. over the last few years an effort to increase students' proficiency and close the education gap between the united states and other countries has seen a renewed focus on stem, and we've seen it in new hampshire as well. and one of the issues that i've seen a focus on that i think is very important is including more women and girls in stem education. at the college level women are currently studying in the stem fields at a lower rate than men and many women who do earn stem

degrees actually end up working in other fields. despite that fact, we're expected to see a 20% increase in stem jobs that we're going to need to build that workforce. and yet women only make up 25% of the stem workforce. so we have a long way to go, and that's one reason i worked with senator gillibrand on a measure to broaden student access to mentorship tutoring and after-school activities to encourage interest and develop in the stem fields. and our amendment was focused on encouraging states to explore ways to increase participation in stem programs by underrepresented groups, including girls minority students english learners, students with disabilities and low-income students, so that we can have a broad array of our students ready to take on those jobs in that workforce that we need to grow our economy. another area we need to grow our

economy on we certainly are seeing in our country the beginnings of a manufacturing renaissance. and in fact, last week i was visiting a company in new hampshire called rapid manufacturing in nashua, new hampshire, and they have a partnership with a local community college to train their workforce and to bring them right from the community college into rapid manufacturing. they have more positions than they can fill right now. in fact, they are themselves going into the middle schools and high schools to get kids excited about career and technical education. and we really need this, and the jobs are there. i hear this from so many of our employers. so i was glad to work across the aisle on an important amendment that did not get included but got quite a bit of support from senator kaine that gained support from senators portman

capito and i want to thank them. this would create a pilot program in our middle schools and to get our children excited about career and technical education for those advanced manufacturing jobs that we need to grow our workforce. and while i'm disappointed that this amendment did not get included on this bill, i'm encouraged that senator alexander said he would be open to working with us on this effort as a potential as we reauthorize the perkins act in the future which will deal with higher education. in addition to the issues we see with workforce and stem and manufacturing, unfortunately an issue that too many of our states are dealing with -- and new hampshire has been hit hard -- is substance abuse. and as part of my ongoing efforts to combat the heroin and prescription addiction crisis in new hampshire i work with senator manchin to put forth two measures to better assist students dealing with substance

abuse issues at home. our amendment would encourage local education decision-makers to provide professional development, training and technical assistance to schools and communities that are affected by the crisis of addiction and this is something that i know we're also going to address in an amendment that i'm supporting later today. new hampshire has been a leader in what's called competency-based education. and what that means is actually assessing students on measures other than tests. that's actually measuring students in innovative assessments and measures of accountability. for example when students actually go out into their community and have real hands-on experience based on the career that they are focusing on. new hampshire has been the first state in the nation to actually receive a grant on competency-based education. so i was very glad to work with

senator king to improve a section of this bill that would allow a greater ability for states to participate in alternative assessment pilot programs like we've seen in new hampshire. this is, again about transferring control from washington on how we assess how our students are doing and how we ensure accountability in our schools to innovative local ideas like what we've seen in new hampshire when it comes to competency-based education. so i want to thank senator king for working with me on that. there are a number of other amendments that i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that i think are very important in this bill. and i was very glad to work on, including with senator booker on assisting homeless and foster youth, including language ensuring better transitions from school to the workplace with senator warner, supporting the use of shared service alliances for early childhood education

programs. for example in new hampshire we have the sea coast early learning alliance in new hampshire. i was very glad to work with senator bennet on that amendment. improving oversight of the early learning alignment and improvement grants program. oversight over our programs in washington is critical. i was glad to work with senator warner on greater oversight of these programs. finally working with senator isakson, again, on the local control piece. that's putting the decisionmaking back with parents, and this amendment will better inform parents about their rights when it comes to mandatory assessments and the qualifications of their classroom teachers. i think we need to inform parents so that they can make the best decisions for their children. i'm confident that the bipartisan commonsense reforms in the every child achieves act will improve our education system and certainly make sure

that the decisionmaking rests where it should, with parents teachers local school boards and our states rather than the washington one-size-fits-all approach that we have seen too much of. and in turn, it will help prepare students in new hampshire and across our country for good careers and a brighter future. all of us here want to ensure that our children will have better opportunities than we have had in this great country and we certainly owe that to our children and i'm very glad that we have had this important debate on the floor and i want to thank again certainly senator alexander and senator murray for working across the aisle on this important bill. thank you mr. president. mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak

as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you mr. president. mr. president, late last month the supreme court issued a severe rebuke to the obama administration and to his environmental protection agency. it was a strong stand against washington overreach. the environmental protection agency had written what it called the mercury and air toxic s standards rule. now, the rule was a key part of the obama administration's war on coal. the supreme court said that when washington bureaucrats were writing this rule that they failed, that the e.p.a. failed to consider the overwhelming costs that they were imposing on hardworking american families. the court said one would not say that it is even rational, never mind appropriate to impose billions of dollars in economic costs in return for a few dollars in health and

environmental benefits. it wasn't even rational, never mind appropriate. the court's decision was exactly right, and many of us saw it as a big step forward reining in this out of control environmental protection agency. here's the problem -- the rule came out in 2012. 2012. and the supreme court didn't rule and make its ruling until 2015. well that's three years. it's far too late for many americans who work at coal plants and who have already been hurt by the e.p.a.'s rule in 2012. that's because power companies are already having to comply with that rule while it made its way through the court process. they have already closed plants because of the rule, even though the supreme court now says that the rule was inappropriate, it was wrong. now, unemployed workers won't

get their jobs back now that the court has ruled against the obama administration. because of these regulations people are already paying higher rates, higher electricity rates than they would have been paying otherwise. consumers don't get their money back either now that the supreme court says that the environmental protection agency overstepped its authority. this isn't the first time that this agency has gone beyond the law and beyond what it's allowed to do. that's what it did when it put out its so-called waters of the united states rule. it's a recent rule, waters of the united states. it's a new regulation. the agency wants to use they want to use it to greatly expand government control over the nation's land and water. farmers, ranchers, hardworking families would no longer be able to decide what to do with their own land. states counties and towns would no longer be able to decide what regulations will be best to protect the streams the waters

and the lakes within their borders. that's the problem. these decisions would now be made by washington bureaucrats no matter what the cost, no matter how small the benefits, how large the cost. not only did the agency increase its authority dramatically, it appears that it abused the rule-making process to get the results that the e.p.a. wanted. what do i mean by that? well when washington writes big, expensive regulations it's supposed to have a public comment period so that people who might be harmed by the rules can have their say. well according to news reports when the e.p.a. was writing the u.s. rule, the e.p.a. twisted the public comment process into its own private government-funded spin machine. this government agency ignored the negative comments by americans who are actually concerned about the law and who are hurt by the law. now, that's not what i'm saying.

that's what "the new york times" said when it reported on the scandal back in may. "the new york times" said that the e.p.a. used taxpayer dollars to lobby liberal groups to flood the agency with positive comments. these were the same phony ginned up comments that he used to justify the dramatic overreach of its new regulations. it's incredible, it's unbelievable and i believe it's also illegal. if you want another example of overreach by the environmental protection agency, look at the regulations that it wrote to restrict the amount of carbon dioxide produced by power plants. it's called the clean power plan. when the e.p.a. was writing this rule, it did the exact same thing that the supreme court just said was not rational. the e.p.a. counted up what it said would be the benefits of the regulation, without caring at all about the true costs.

so what are the true costs? well according to one estimate, the new regulations would add up to $366 billion in additional costs over the next 15 years. that cost will be passed on to consumers and will force more power plants to close and more americans to lose their jobs. for all of that expense all of that damage to hardworking families the benefits would be minimal. the obama administration makes wild claims about environmental benefits of this regulation. they're the same kind of claims that it made for the rule that the supreme court just called unreasonable. the agency exaggerates the benefits. the agency ignores the costs and it puts its thumb on the scale to come up with a policy that it wants. one of the big costs that the environmental protection agency has been ignoring is the

damaging health effects of the unemployment caused by the regulations. when a power plant closes, people in those communities lose their jobs and their health suffers. high unemployment increases the likelihood of hospital visits, of illnesses of premature death. high unemployment raises health care costs and it hurts children's health and family well-being. those are real costs to families to society and the e.p.a. continues to intentionally ignore them. the environmental protection agency agency was wrong when it wrote its mercury and air toxics rule. it was wrong when it wrote its waters of the united states rule. and it is wrong when it wrote its power plant rule. the supreme court has said the environmental protection agency needs to take a more honest approach. supreme court telling president obama's e.p.a. to take an honest approach and it needs to take

the true costs into consideration. that's what states across the country are already doing. governors in oklahoma, in wisconsin, in indiana and texas are refusing to be bullied by the obama administration. they're refusing to give up their right to decide what's best for their own citizens. these states, i believe are taking the right approach. they're waiting to get a true idea of the costs as well as the benefits before they rush to allow rules that would shut down power plants and put thousands of people out of work. the supreme court says that's what washington should be doing as well. maybe now the obama administration will finally listen and start basing its regulations on what the science says is true, not just on what the bureaucrats of the administration wish were true. thank you mr. president. i yield the floor.

i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: mr. president in my home state of washington and across the country students and parents and teachers and communities are counting on us to finally fix no child left behind. i have been very glad to work with chairman alexander on our bipartisan bill called the every child achieves act. our bipartisan bill gives states more flexibility while also including federal guardrails to make sure all students have access to a quality public education. i am very proud of the bipartisan work we've done on the senate floor debating amendments taking votes and making this good bill even better. it's not the bill i would have principle on my own. i am sure it's not the bill that chairman alexander would have written on his own but it is a good strong step in the right

direction, and it is not the last opportunity, of course, we'll have to work on this bill before it's signed into law. in fact, after the senate passes the bill today we will go to conference and then i will be looking forward to working closely with their ranking member bobby scott, with the administration with democrats and republicans in the house and senate who are interested in building on the senate's bipartisan work and getting this done. and i hope chairman klein and house republicans will be willing to join us at the table to reach an agreement on a final product that works for our kids and our parents and our schools and our communities across the country. strengthening accountability is something i know is extremely important to me and to ranking member scott. democrats, including 42 of our senate democrats voted for senator murphy's accountability amendment yesterday and the administration will continue to push for that conference. but, mr. president we still have more work to do today before we wrap up and vote on final passage. the senior senator from pennsylvania has introduced an amendment to expand access to

high-quality early education from -- that is being introduced by senator casey. you know, making sure kids can start kindergarten ready to learn is one of the best investments i believe we can make to help our kids succeed in school and later in life. i urge my colleagues to vote for that amendment when it comes up before us shortly. and then, of course, we will have a number of other amendments and final passage and hopefully we'll be able to reach that in a positive way today. mr. president, i've said this many times on the senate floor but it bears repeating to emphasize how important education is for the future of this country. providing a quality education isn't just good for students today. it is an investment in our future work force. it is an investment in our future economy and it is an investment in a growing strong middle class. that will help our country grow stronger. as we all know, across the country today parents and students and teachers and our

communities are looking to us to fix the no child left behind, so again i commend senator alexander for his strong work on this for his willingness to work on a bipartisan basis and get us to where we are today to be able to look very soon to passing a bill out of the senate and continuing our work to fix this broken law. thank you mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i thank the senator from washington for her for her comments. at 10:45 we'll begin voting. we have six amendments, five or six that we expect to vote on. and then at 1:45 we will have final passage of the bill or cloture of the final passage of the bill. so we'll finish our bill fixing

no child left behind today. of course in the united states senate nothing is done until it's done, so i don't want to anticipate that. but i think it is fair to make a few comments about the bill at this point anticipating that we'll have a successful conclusion this afternoon. if we are able to pass a bill fixing no child left behind this afternoon, it will be a remarkable accomplishment for a united states senate filled with 100 experts on education. i said earlier this week that dealing with a piece of legislation about elementary and secondary education is a little bit like going to a football game at the university of tennessee where there are 100,000 people in the stands and every one of them is an expert on football and they know exactly what the next play is to call. consensus among experts is not easy but consensus is necessary

in the united states senate if we're going to deal even with such a complex problem as this, and that's exactly what we achieved. as senator murray said, we found a consensus about first about the urgent need to fix no child left behind. we're seven years overdue. that's our collective fault here in the united states congress. we tried twice the last two congresses but we fell apart over partisan differences. i'll give senator murray credit for coming up with the idea of how we began this process earlier this year, and that was for the two of us consulting with our committee members and other senators to produce a draft that would be a starting point for our committee. and that worked well. we considered nearly 60 amendments in committee adopted 27, i believe and the committee

reported unanimously to this body a bill to fix no child left behind. that gave us a very good head start because members of our committee represent some of our most liberal members and some of our most p conservative members. and the fact that we could agree on how to take that step made a big difference and is one reason why we will succeed this afternoon in passing the bill. so we found a consensus not only on the urgent need to fix the bill but on how to fix -- the urgent need to fix no child left behind but how to fix no child left behind, and the consensus is this: continue the law's important measurements of academic progress of students but restore to states school districts, classroom teachers and parents the responsibility for deciding what to do about improving student achievement. that theme runs through this bill. this change, in my opinion

should produce fewer tests and more appropriate ways to measure student achievement. it's the most effective way to advance higher state standards better teaching and real accountability. we've had a lot of talk about accountability during this debate as we should have. and the presiding officer as i was, was once a governor. and we have watched over the last 15 years how states have become better prepared at dealing with student achievement, how they work together to create higher standards state by state work together to create better assessments, tests state by state. and now work together to create better accountability state by state. and this bill is a recognition of that preparation by the states and recognition also as the new york principal of the year said in a letter to us that people closest to their children cherish their children and we

should not assume because we've flown to washington d.c. for the week that suddenly we're so much wiser about what to do about children in 100,000 public schools and cherish the children more than the classroom teachers and parents and school board members and the community and legislators and governors who are closer to them than we are. the next step is if we're successful this afternoon is to go to a conference with the house. i've had numerous discussions with chairman klein of the house of representatives. we've been on parallel paths. we know better than to try to make our institutions do exactly the same thing. that defies human nature. but we can communicate and stay in touch with each other. and our bills are not that different. and the committee members are familiar with the bill. there are some important differences, and we'll have to work those out. but our goal, if we succeed today, is to take the bill passed by the house put it

together with the senate bill, produce a conference report and send it to the desk of president obama in a form that he will be comfortable signing it. i believe the president also sees the need to fix no child left behind. he knows that there is confusion and anxiety in most of our 100,000 public schools that needs to be settled. and we hope that we've come up with a version of the bill that while it wouldn't be the bill that he would write if only he were writing it, and as senator murray said, it's not the bill she would write if only she were writing it. it's certainly not the bill that i would write if only i were writing it, but we have a consensus that we need to come to. why do we need a consensus? because that's the way you govern a complex society. i first came to the senate as a young aide in the late 1960's, and i watched everett dirksen the republican leader, and president johnson the democratic president work together to produce a civil

rights legislation. that was more difficult than this although this has been pretty difficult. it took 68 votes to get cloture at that time, and they did that. and it was only because they had a consensus. and senator russell from georgia, who had opposed the civil rights bill, went home to georgia the next day and said it's the law of the land and we need to support it. the way you govern a complex country is through consensus and the agency of our government that is the only agent for encouraging and achieving consensus is the united states senate. and i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for creating an environment here where we could do that. senator mcconnell has done that by putting the bill on the floor and giving us enough time to have amendments and having a policy of encouraging amendments. so senators on both sides could have their say both in the

committee and on the floor there have been more democratic amendments considered and adopted than republican amendments. and that's appropriate. and senator cornyn, senator thune senator barrasso on this side of the aisle have been very helpful. i have several times thanked the democratic leader senator reid. he's helped to create an environment that permitted this to move in an orderly fashion. we basically conducted the end of the consideration of this bill by unanimous consent. enough senators have had a chance to have their say that they agreed by unanimous consent that we could consider these amendments and only these amendments in a certain way with a certain amount of time and go all the way through to the end. that's a very good way to operate the united states senate and the democratic leader made that possible first by allowing the bill to come to the floor without a cloture vote and by working with us as we went through and senator schumer and senator durbin who

along with senator murray are part of the democratic leader have done the same. senator vitter and senator lee senator toomey, senator burr have all stepped back a little bit from things that they would like to do. so did senator franken. so did senator casey on that side of the aisle. in other words a number of senators exercised restraint to permit us to work toward a result. and in a body that operates by unanimous consent that's absolutely essential. so this has been a good process. we have six more amendments this morning and we look forward to debating those and acting on them and then at 1:45 hopefully we'll have a big vote in favor of fixing no child left behind, reflecting the consensus that will keep the important measurements of student achievement but we will turn back to restore to state and local governments the responsibility for what to do

about the results of those tests. that's the consensus in this bill. survived very well through the committee process and through the amendments so far and i expect it to survive through the rest of the day. i thank the president. i yield the floor. mr. alexander: i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. cruz: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: i ask unanimous consent to set aside the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the cruz amendment number 2180. the senator from cruz. mr. cruz: mr. president, there are a number of members of this body who in good faith are moving forward to reduce the federal burdens on states, on

teachers, on education. and yet at the end of the day this bill still mandates specific testing requirements. this amendment is a straightforward amendment to remove the testing mandates and to leave the substance of any testing that occurs to the states. this leaves power over choices in education in the hands of teachers, in the hands of school boards, in the hands of states, in the hands of government that is closest to the people. we have seen with the bipartisan objections to common core that the last thing we need in education is unelected bureaucrats in washington dictating what is being taught to kids at home. this amendment simply takes out the federal mandates and empowers teachers and school boards and parents to control the education of their own children. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president i would urge a "no" vote on this

amendment. this is the report card. the federal government is saying we'll give you $23 billion and all we're asking in return is that you state write a test. you, state figure out what the accountability system is, and you report it to the parents and the public. that would mean a third grader, for example would take two tests a year. each test would be about two hours. so it is a state test, a state assessment. in our alexander-murray bipartisan bill, we keep what works in no child left behind, which is the report card, but we get rid of what doesn't work and we give back to states the responsibility for student -- for determining student achievement. this is the consensus that supports this bill. keeping the important measure of student achievement is essential to maintaining that consensus. so if you want to get rid of the common core mandate get rid of the waivers of 42 states,

reverse the trend to a national school board vote "no" and keep the requirement for important measures of students which are state tests -- the presiding officer: the senator's time expired. the question occurs on the amendment 2180. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

sing be

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 40, the nays are 58, and the amendment is not agreed to. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the sanders amendment number 2177. mr. alexander: mr. president the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. sanders: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont.

mr. sanders: thank you. madam president, i applaud president obama for visiting a federal penitentiary today to highlight the fact that tragically the united states has more people in jail than any other country on earth. and one of the reasons that we have so many people in jail is that we have an obscenely high level of youth unemployment. for young white kids, 33%. for hispanic kids, 36%. for african-american kids, 51%. madam president, the time has come for us to begin investing in jobs and education for our kids not jails and incarceration. this bill over a two-year period would create two million jobs for our young people. it is paid for by closing the interest loophole that allows billionaires to pay a lower tax rate than working class americans. it is high time we address this

issue of high youth unemployment. i ask for bipartisan support. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: madam president the five remaining votes will be ten-minute votes. i urge a no vote, number one because this proposal is unconstitutional. you cannot start a tax increase into the -- in the united states senate. it has to start in the house. number two we already have three work force programs which we created just last year. jobs corps youth bill, dislocated workers. number three it's a big tax increase. so because it's a big tax increase because it's duplicative of existing programs and because it is unconstitutional i urge a no vote. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: is there any senator in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? on this vote, the yeas are 43, the nays are 55. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment the amendment is not agreed to. under the previous order there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the coons amendment number 2243. mr. coons: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware.

mr. coons: madam president the bipartisan amendment that i'm offering today with senator rubio and i'm grateful to senator gillibrand for cosponsoring this american dream accounts amendment is about one thing -- giving every child the chance to go to college if they're willing to work hard for it. time and again we've seen in this country what kids can achieve when they know their dreams are possible. that's what this amendment and the american dream accounts helps solve ensuring every child knows a college education is possible. the american dream accounts encourages partnerships in ten demonstration sites to develop secure web-based accounts that develop information about each student's literacy and academic preparedness and ties them to high impact metropolitan storing and a savings account. the presiding officer: the senate is not in order. mr. coons: thank you. i myself have seen over years of work with the national i've a dream foundation with the

message sending that college is a real policies built can make a powerful impact from elementary school to middle school to high school to college and it has an impact that changes their behavior and their outcomes in school. american dream accounts are bipartisan idea whose time has come and i urge my colleagues to support it with a yes vote. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. is mr. alexander: madam president, if i could have the attention of senators. we have four more votes before lunch. it's 1140. so would -- 11:40. we'd like to have ten minute votes. if senators will stay on the floor we'll have ten minute votes. i have nine unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session. they have approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent they be agreed to and printed in the record. now for one i one minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: madam president this is an interesting idea.

but it belongs in the higher education act which we're about to take up in our committee. and here's why -- it duplicates two existing federal programs called gear-up and trio. number two we already have $30 billion of tax credits that we spend to help students --. a senator: ,madam president the senate in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. please take your conversations out of the well. mr. alexander: this involves tax credits, we already spend $30 billion. we should calculate the this program along with $100 billion of loans we make, the $35 billion of pell grants we make the $30 billion of tax credits we have and see where it fits into that. the time to do that is in the next big bill from our committee which is the reauthorization of the higher education act so i urge a no vote. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the amendment.

mr. coons: madam president, how much time do i have remaining if any? the presiding officer: no time remaining. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are

there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? on this vote, the yeas are 68, the nays are 30. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment the amendment is agreed to. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the bur burr amendment number 247, as modified. mr. burr: madam president? the presiding officer: who yields time? mr. burr: madam president,? the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. burr: madam president the senate in order. mr. alexander: madam president the senate is not in session -- the senate and. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. please take your conversations out of the well. the senator from north carolina. mr. burr: 1965 president lyndon

johnson when esea was passed he said this -- financial assistance to school districts serving areas of concentrations of children from low-income should be the target of it. we've never successfully targeted all those kids in poverty. but let me say to my colleagues if your state is in red here, your poor students lose under the current formula. now, we've come to a compromise. and that compromise, though, i don't think it's the best policy compromise is at the heart of this institution. therefore with $14 billion worth of appropriations in title 1-a today, this new formula would not take place until we had reached $17 billion meaning for the next years probably ten based upon historical numbers there would be no change in the distribution in any state. but after that point, this body for once for the first time in 50 years would have the money follow kids in poverty. the red states that you see on

this map. i urge my colleagues support this amendment. it's the right thing to do. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i ask that 30 seconds of my time be yielded to the senator from ohio. yes. i oppose this amendment. i would -- i do thank the senators from tennessee washington, and north carolina for making it less onerous. we did come to a compromise as he said that starts at $17 billion. but there's technical a major fallacy here. when we change formulas we have always held harmless the states that would lose money but we've been able to do it because we increased money. in this bill we don't. we keep it flat. so it's robbing peter to pay paul which will be an awful precedent which will bite every one of us and second my good friend from north carolina says the money should go to people in poverty. but they all just voted against the murphy amendment which required the money to go to

people in poverty now it can go anywhere. so i would urge, respectfully, my colleagues to oppose this amendment although it is improved from the original. mr. portman: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i agree. i appreciated the fact we've delayed the impact but the impact is still severe. on my state and many other states we're seeing a significant cut. it's telling states that invest in children you'll be penalized. that's not what this body ought to be doing. this legislation is about helping our children succeed and yet in this amendment we're telling states if you help your kids succeed you'll be penalized under a new formula. it's not part of the bill that came out of the committee the underlying bill. i urge you to vote no on this amendment and ensure the states that are helping our kids continue to be able to do so. the presiding officer: the question for the amendment. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not the vote is 59 yeas, 39 nays. the amendment is, as modified, is agreed to. mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent to engage in a brief colloquy with my colleagues from the state of tennessee and the state of washington for no more than two minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. and, as stated, some of us had serious objections to changing the formula but thankfully the modified amendment follows in a

tradition of compromise, and i appreciate my colleagues from tennessee, washington, and north carolina working on it. as a result, we will continue to abide by the do-to-harm principle. new york's funding will not be cut. neither will the funding in any of the other 13 states that would have been cut by the original amendment. we will not punish schools unfairly by using a formula that creates winners and losers. this bill takes the idea of losing school districts off the table. i'd like to thank my colleagues for working with me to ensure that our students in new york and the 13 other states do not start the next school year at a disadvantage with fewer school resources. the title 1 changes we've agreed to reflect our commitment to increasing funding and supporting for low- and moderate-income students and i ashe appreciate the commitment that -- and i appreciate the commitments that my colleagues from tennessee and washington have made. i'd ask my deer friend, senator

alexander, i'd like to confirm your commitment to maintaining this title 1 funding proposal that we just passed, as contained in amendment 2247, as modified when the senate and house convene a conference that we will not go any lower than this. mr. alexander: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator tennessee. mr. alexander: i would say through the chair to the distinguished senator from new york and the senator from illinois and the republican senators who are interested in this that the answer to senator schumer's question is "yes." that my commitment is to work -- to keep the senate decision in conference. mr. schumer: and could i -- and would the gentleman -- madam president, re-clapping the reclaiming the floor i would just ask my friend from the state of washington, does she concur in that opinion or in that statement rather? mrs. murray: through the chair to the senator from new york, i will work in conference to keep the commitment of this amendment. mr. schumer: madam president i yield to my friend from

illinois. mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the be given one more minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i yield that minute to the senator from illinois. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president the original burr amendment would have cost the illinois $180 million in title 1 funds. $68 million cut to the chicago public schools. it was unconscionable. it would have been devastating. they have so many low-income students and i am glad that at least there is a better approach now. i hope the federal title 1 funding will reach $17 billion soon. it's currently at $14.4 billion and it's been at that level for the -- roughly for the last five years. i thank my colleagues from tennessee and washington for confirming that they will stand behind this protection during the course of the conference committee. and i like to submit my written statement in its entirety for the record. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate

equally divided prior to a vote on brown amendment number 2100. the senator from ohio. mr. brown: madam president brown-manchin expands the full-service community schools mod toll schools across the country. community schools are different from promised neighborhoods two different approaches to what is a complex set of challenges. community schools start with a focus on the school, engage partners and join efforts to improve student achievement and development and in the process work to strengthen family and community. madam president i yield the remainder of my time to senator manchin. mr. manchin: madam president all of us have challenged areas in our states. a county one. poorest counties in the country. these children have no chance whatsoever. it has the worst -- the absolutely worst statistics of any child could be living in. if it wasn't for these programs that's bringing the compassion of public-private partnerships that we're able to work through

to reestablish the services that these children won't get -- the areas are so sparsely populated high unemployment. i would encourage all of you to support this amendment. it continues a program that's worthwhile. we have mcdo you county with 125 public-private partnerships that we would not have and these children would not have a changes without it. i encourage your support. mr. alexander: i urge a "no" vote because states may already do what the amendment says they can do in this new program. there's money in title 1 2 and 4 to do that. so all this does is take money away from existing programs and give it to a new program which states if they chose could already do. second, we are approving today an almost identical program called promise neighborhoods which the center for american progress recommended congress consolidate with the program that th amendment would authorize and create. so we're creating two programs that do the same thing in the

same day. and, in addition, the education department secretary in the obama administration said "promised neighborhood and full-service community schools are much more similar than different p." so we need to stop this business of doing well-intentioned programs. i mean, one program -- one well-intentioned program is enough. we don't need to create two that do the same thing. i urge a "no" vote. the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment. the yeas and nays? is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or to change their vote? on this motion the yeas are 5

3, the nays are 44. the amendment is agreed to. for the information of senators this is the last vote before lump. we'll have a cloture. the presiding officer: under the previous order there will be two minutes of debate, equally divided prior to a vote on the casey amendment number 2242. the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: madam president this amendment focuses on the link between learning and earning. we know if we invest in our children and -- and prekindergarten education they will learn more you now and earn more later. it's a state-federal partnership, it is focuses on three million 4-year-olds in the country who will benefit from high-quality learning. the best testimony about this issue comes from parents.

beth in southwestern pennsylvania said, talking about an early learning program in pennsylvania -- quote -- "her daughter couldn't read or write any letters now has improved so much since the first day of class and megan from southeast he pennsylvania said when they are son came into this program he was shy and is had little verbal communication he now talks nonstop and loves learning. that's why we need this amendment to pass. i urge i yes vote on the casey and. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i urge a no vote. technology already spends $22 billion on early childhood education through 45 programs. states spend money through the title 1 program on early childhood education. our underlying bill has an important amendment on early childhood by senator murray and senator isakson to spend that money more effectively. this proposal would be like --

has a familiar ring, like a medicaid mandate. like a national school board. the federal government would define teacher salaries, class size staff-child ratios, professional development. it's a national school board for 4-year-olds. that's the reverse of what we want to do in this bill. a third would be common core for kindergarten. so i would urge a "no" vote. the presiding officer: question is on the amendment. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

the presiding officer: are there

any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not on this vote the yeas are 45, the nays 52. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, it is not agreed to. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: i wish to make just a quick couple of comments on an amendment that i appreciate the floor managers, senator alexander and senator murray have agreed to accept by voice vote. what this amendment would do is expand the authorized use of project school emergency response to violence or what we call project serve, grants to include violence prevention. currently project serve funds are used to restore the learning environment by addressing the disruptive effects of a traumatic crisis or event. however, they cannot be used to fund violence prevention activities such as after-school activities anger management or

skills-building programs. my amendment would permit a limited and focused expansion of project serve to permit prevention activities as part of the efforts to restore the learning environment in cases where there's a continued risk of disruption. this would better tie prevention to a crisis or trauma that has already occurred and better restore and preserve the learning environment in cases like the tragic suicide crisis in indian country or gang violence. for example, on south dakota's pine ridge indian reservation alone, two high school and two middle school aiming students have committed suicide just since december. my amendment would help give knees areas of crisis additional flexibility in restoring our schools to safe and positive environments. i work closely with chairman alexander and ranking member murray to keep this expansion limited so as not to detract from project serve's current scope and i appreciate very much their help and the senate's support.

mr. president, i would now ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of the warren amendment number 2249 all postcloture time on the spammed be yielded back, further that the cloture vote on senate bill 1177 be at 1:45 p.m. today and if cloture is invoked all postcloture time except for four minutes equally divided between senators alexander alexander and murray are yielded back and following the use or yielding back of time the senate vote on passage of senate bill 1177 as amended if amended. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the question occurs on the hatch amendment number 2282. fall favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the warren amendment number 2106.

all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the schatz amendment number 2130. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the murphy amendment number 2186. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the nelson amendment number 2215 as modified. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the

manchin amendment number 2222. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. a ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the boozman adam number 2231. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the baldwin amendment number 2288 -- excuse me 2218 -- 2188. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the capito amendment number 21 56. all those in favor say aye. those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it.

the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the thune amendment number 2232, all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the king amendment number 2256. all those say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the schatz amendment number 2240. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the warren amendment number 2249. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to.

under the previous order all postcloture time on the amendment is yielded back. the question is on the peters amendment. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question is on the substitute amendment as amended. all those in favor say aye. all those say -- those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. mrs. murray: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum -- i withdraw that

request. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: thank you to the senator from washington and the senator from tennessee for their leadership over the last several days last week and this week as we talk about the future of education in this country and i commend them for creating a bill thats takes away the federal government's mandates on curriculum and direction and makes sure that we provide local control to school districts and teachers as a father myself, one going into the sixth grade i have heard a lot about tests over the past several years and i want to commend the leadership to make sure that we are actually getting congress out of the classroom and i appreciate your leadership. and so today, though, i want to talk about an amendment that was accepted in the education bill we are debating here dealing with the use of title 1 for concurrent and incontrolment funds in schools throughout the country. according to a georgetown public policy institute by 2020, 65% of the jobs that are available in the country today will

require a secondary education. in colorado that number is even higher. by 2065, 6 -- by 2020, 65% will be great in colorado that in number will be greater. the department of education estimates it's not just 65% of the jobs requiring a secondary education, it will actually be 74% of the jobs in our state are going to require some form of a secondary degree. post secondary education. ensuring that our students have the skills mess to succeed in college, and the workforce is the best way to address this kerchlt so that we can make shore we're providing our students with successful futures. and concurrent enrollment and dual enrollment programs have a proven record of success in this arena. i was in the state legislature in colorado when we embarked on the first concurrent enrollment -- hides that came out of the legislature. they have been greatly successful. but we know that it's not just the anecdotes from colorado.

but it is the american institutes from research finding that participation in concurrent and dual enrollment programs real estate duces the number of students dropping ow of high school increasing a student's likelihood of entering college and makessuring they complete college and get through to a career. our challenge today is that aan astounding number of students need to take remedial courses when they enter college. sitting down with junior college leaders, community college presidents talking to our universities they all tell stories about how many students come from high schools to their college, to their campus, requiring remedial work in epg lish or mathematics. according to a report by testing organization e.t.s., nearly one half of u.s. mill millennials scored below the threshold that indicates prshes in literacy -- proashes in literacy -- proficiency in literacy. studentsstudents are discouraged from entering college when they are

required to take courses. nobody wants to go ton college and take the same courses you thought you had completed in high school. concurrent and dual enrollment in help solve this problem by allowing students to en roll in college-level courses which will ensure these students are indeed proficient. not only does concurrent and dual enrollment allow efficiency it allows them to get ahead of the curve. a study by the national educational longitudinal -- by the national educational longitudinal study found that participants were 16% 2020% more likely to complete a bachelor's degree than their counterparts. research shows that those who participate in concurrent and dual enrollment programs complete their degrees earlier than their counterparts as well. a study in 2010 by chris stn clopenstein, a graduate from the university of texas found that the results of taking one or more concurrent or dual

ronnelment classes tripled the likelihood of graduating in relation to stiewjtdz whose did not take such courses who typically graduate in four years. dual enrollment participation was correlated to completing batch losh's degrees in four or five years relative to students who did not take such courses who typically take longer to graduate. these are the types of programs that reward students for their hard work and prepare them for their college career and success. many people recognize that courses that college credit is received for is tan by high-achieving students already. people that we knew were destined for college in the fingerprints. i think twoaf talk about the times where that's not the case, where college courses were taken by people who perhaps never thought they had college in their future. i want to share one such story today. we were visited in the office not too long ago by a young woman from colorado who told her story about how concurrent enrollment in colorado really opened the doors to a college

future and a college degree that she never thought was possible. i want to share her story now. the community where i come from is not one that promises a great future. from a low-income area in denver colorado, with we weren't expected to go to clenl. i always known i wanted to mor sue higher education but was nervous i wouldn't have the skills. for me because of concurrent enrollment i was able to get ahead in college for free. i graduated hue school with all of my credits along were 15 credit hours of college credit. concurrent enrollment has helped me in phenomenal ways. gave me the confidence to know i had the capabilities to succeed. in addition with the high cost of college, i was able to save money and am now a student at colorado state university and made the dean's list. i am on track to graduate early and it would have never been possible without the programs i participated in this high school. i want to spread the word so other students can benefit from concurrent enrollment the way i have. every person that wants to go on

to college should have the opportunity to attend and so i'm thankful i had the opportunity to do so. those aren't my word. those are the words of a coloradan whose future was made brighter by the fact that she was able to take advantage while in high school of college credit classes. stories like this are why we have to make sure that not just coloradans but everyone across this country is able to use title 1 programs in the same beneficial manner. so the amendment that we offered and has been accepted thanks to the work of senator alexander our great chairman, and the ranking member, patty murray, would empower students to use these kinds of programs. the it a how eligible schools to use title 1 funds for concurrent and dual enrollment programs so they can simultaneously receive credit by college-approved teachers in a second education. it would allow eligible schools to use 50 partnerships with institutions of higher education-to-a how students to participate in concurrent enrollment in the year directly following their senior year of high school.

so earning a post secondary degree has become a prerequisite for jobs in the 21st century. going back ttatistics we shared 74% of graduates -- 74% of jobs in colorado will require by the year 2020 a postsecondary education degree. and as we face more competition in the global workplace as we face more competition abroad, we have to have the kinds of education and educational opportunities that gift next generation of business leaders innovators entrepreneurs the skills to succeed. i believe that concurrent and dual enrollment programs not only give them the types of skills they need while in high school but the opportunity to further a college degree and perhaps, as the story i shared earlier today from that young coloradan, the chance to go to college, the chance to receive a degree to prove that they have that bright future. that's what this policy is about. that's what this amendment has been about and i again thank the chairman for consideration and acceptance of the amendment. and, mr. president i yield the

floor. mr. manchin: mr. president? officerrer sph the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin: i rise to talk about a problem that each one of us all 100 senators, in any gathering that you go to in your state or around this country people are affected by drug abuse. whether it be legal or illegal. l so in our personal families, immediate families or extended families we know somebody that's it has affected their lives. so i urge today my colleagues to support a commonsense amendment which i have introduced to the every child achieves act that addresses an epidemic devastating to my state and our country, and i know your state also, which is substance abuse. communities across the country including many in my beautiful state of west virginia, are seeing an alarming rise in substance abuse and addiction to

legal prescription drugs. these are drugs you'll find basically in the medicine cabinet at your home. west virginia is number one in overdose deaths. number-one in overdose deaths due to drug abuse. we have seen over a 600% increase in a number of people dying since 1999. nationally 21.6 million americans are battling substance dependence or abuse. but as most of you know, you can't truly understand substance abuse with just a list of facts an statistics. it is one that can only be understood by hearing stories of those impacted. when i was governor of the state of west virginia, i traveled around the state and i have seen firsthand the affects that substance abuse can v and woe try to tackle many of these issues at the state level. but it is impossible. all of us have to be in this. but one of the most moving experiences occurred during my first trip back to the mountain state after becoming a united states senator. i traveled to the really beautiful little town of osiana,

west virginia. i went to the middle school where i expected to talk about the importance of receiving a good education and working hard to gaining the necessary skills to be successful in the workforce. instead i heard personal stories from 11-year-olds who spoke candidly about the way that drugs were tearing apart their families, their homes and their communities. as tears trickled down their faces, they shared how they rarely played outside because too many needles coated the streets. and drug deals often took place right in front of them. it is one thing to hear about over-overdoses and addictions from doctors or police officers who deal with substance abuse cases every day but i can tell you it is another thing to set across from an 11-year-old girl who is fighting through tears to describe how they are family and -- how her family and family life has been destroyed. her father was hurt in the coal mines, rapidly became addicted

to painkillers causing her family to lose everything. as i listened to her storks i couldn't help but thing that this young girl had to grow up so fast, so very fast, and michigan some of the pleasures of childhood. -- and miss some of the pleasures of chilehood. that is why i'm doing everything in my power to fight this national problem. and in my commonsense bipartisan amendment with senator ayotte would simply require that in states where this is a significant problem the state education plan to include a strategy for how the state will help local education agencies educate students who face substance abuse in their home. what we're saying is no child can be in a drug-affected home and have a normal childhood. they can't have a normal learning experience in the school system. it does not require or prescribe any particular response. we're not saying you have to do this. the states that wish to have this done can. it simply gives the states the flexibility to craft proposals that meet particular local

needs. that means, if you have a child that basically needs extracurricular activity, extra help extra support preschool after-school they're able to interconvenient and change the -- intervene and change the system that would meet the needs of that community. substance abuse by parents parents and other caregivers can have a significant, negative impact on the well-being of children and makes it more give for them to learn and thrive in school. this amendment is a small step forward toward addressing that problem. but it will encourage the states to consider solutions that will enable local schools and communities to better help these vulnerable children and ensure that every child is ready to learn. our country our states, our communities, our schools and our children need us to take action to protect them from the devastation of substance abuse. i'm often reminded of the five promises the five promises that we as aduments should make to every child. colin powell started this the five promises. and my wife and i have apartisan

dod them. when i was gone we started a foundation. every child has to have a loving parent and adult in their life. a loving, caring adult. unconditional love. second every child should have a safe place. every child should have a healthy start in life. every child should learn to have an education have a skill set. the fifth problem is what we can't teach. we can usually show from example. every child should grow to be a loving caring adult and give something back. if we don't give the children the chance to have that type of -- that type of an experience archtdzand they know they don't have a loving caring adult they don't have a safe place and the home is not because the home has been ruined by drug abuse, this is where we need to step in. if we're going to save a generation this is what we dovment the number-one thing killing this country is drug abuse. it is basically coming from prescription drugs. it starts with the manufacturing, it goes down with the f.d.a. putting all these lethal drugs on the market that

we never had before, it goes down to distribution, dispensing by doctors then we don't have any treatment centers to cure people. i'm asking all of you please consider supporting this amendment of it is the most reasonable most responsible. it is no mandatory. you can tailor it to fit however the needs of your state or county might need. with that, i yield the floor mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: thank you mr. president. mr. president, 70 years ago today the first atomic bomb was exploded at the trinity site in new mexico. for our nation, it was the beginning of the nuclear age. for the residents of the tiew la rosen basin, it was also the beginning of great suffering of generations of cancer and chronic illnesses. seven decades later their

suffering continues and so does their fight for justice. windows rattled hundreds of miles wash the people saw radioactive debris fall from the sky, not knowing what it was. the fallout killed cattle, poisoned water and food and the aimplet the danl wasair. the damage was done. the destruction was real and so is the sadness and disappointment and anger. that is very real, too. the basin downwinders have not forgotten. they rightly ask that we do not forget eemplet i met with them and their families earlier this month. and they told me their stories some of which i will share today. hen rett yet athenry was just 2-year-olds at the time. he is now 81. "i heard a very large blast and

saw a big flash of life. i thought the world was coming to an end." he himself is a cancer survivor. he told me i am the only one alive to tell about it. everyone else has died of cancer. edna recalled so many in her family that had cancer. one after another. aunts, uncles, cousins her mothers and sister and herself. she said, "my oldest daughter says it is not a matter of if you get cancer, it is a matter of when. margie tr ahill told me of nine members of her family, six have cancer, three died from it. the loss is tragic. so is the frustration. she said many in our family feel our government turned a deaf ear to our health issues. i heard to a woman born in tularosa in 1940. she told me that on the street

where she lived at least ten people have had cancer. that's just one block. many families from the tularosa basin know this loss and pain. nornora faults, 71 years old is the only sibling of five who doesn't have cancer. her sister, helen was diagnosed with kidney cancer 17 years ago. helen's daughter had multiple illnesses and chronic pain and died at the age of 62. there are so many stories far too many stories like this. as gloria said, the tularosa community has shed enough tears to fill a lake. mr. president, it was my privilege to meet with these survivors. their stories are courageous and troubling. but most troubling of all is the people who were not there, who were not able to speak, who have passed away over the last seven

decades. we all speak for them now and we will keep on speaking until justice is done. the tularosa basin downwinders consortium is doing critical work organizing the community making sure people listen and understand what happened. folks like tina crordova are great advocates refusing to give up. tina summed up the feelings of many when she told me we were the unknown unknowing guinea pigs in the world's greatest experiment. i agree with tina and the members of the consortium. theirs is a tragic story. they suffered so we could develop bombs and win wars. that's why i have again pushed for legislation with my colleague, senator crapo and several others to amend the radiation composure act to finally recognize the trinity

site and to include new mexicans who have suffered for decades. they deserve justice. they deserve compensation and they are still waiting. 70 years later still waiting. we can't change the past. we can't erase the years of illness, the years of pain endured by too many and for too long. but fair compensation will make a difference and will provide badly needed help. it took many years to create the original rica program. my father helped lay the groundwork. he devoted many years to fighting in the courts for men women and children who were sick because they had lived downwind during nuclear tests. they were exposed to dangerous radiation. they should have been helped but were ignored instead. i remember going with him to meet with folks in saint george, utah in 1978. i was just out of law school. there were about 40 or 50 survivors there.

they loved their country. they trusted their government. they are hesitant to speak out. they did not seek special treatment, but they were wounded people caught in the fallout of the nuclear age. they had a right to be heard. my dad heard them and he demanded that others hear them as well. he fought for them until the end of his life at 90 years old first in the courts and thin in the congress -- and then in the congress. he worked with senators ted kennedy and orrin hatch an unlikely match if ever there was one, and they kept pushing. president h.w. bush signed rica into law 25 years ago in 1990. it was a bipartisan bill. it was driven by simple fairness and it was a historic step forward. but it left some folks behind, including the downwinders in the tularosa basin. my dad would not give up. the families he worked with

would not give up, and we won't give up either. our bill would expand the downwind exposure area to include seven states from the trinity and nevada test sites and would include guam from the pacific site. it would also allow compensation for post-1971 uranium workers and would fund a critical public health study of those who live and work in uranium development communities. i will continue to push for this legislation. it's the right thing to do. and we should get it done, which is why i will again join my colleagues, my senate colleagues in sending a letter to the judiciary committee to request a hearing on this important bill. many families in new mexico have been hurt, and they worry there is more harm to come. when i was in tularosa this month, i spoke with a woman named louisa lopez. her husband has mantle cell

lymphoma. they know at least 17 other people who have cancer or who have died from it. she said we fear passing this on to our children, future grandchildren and other generations. this weekend there will be a candlelight vigil in tularosa. folks will gather as they do every year now. they will stand together as candles flicker in the warm new mexico night. and they will remember, they will remember those who have been brought down by the cancer and other radiation-related diseases. they will remember those who have passed away. they will remember what a wrong was done and has yet to be righted. and they will offer prayers and support to those who continue to struggle. as rosemary cordova told me in tularosa we can't bring back those we lost, but we can support those still suffering. all we're asking is that our government face up to the wrong that has been done that someday

soon our government will do what should have been done long ago. it takes courage to speak out. it takes courage to speak truth to power. these folks are heroes. and on this 70th anniversary i want to say to them, thank you. thank you for making your voices heard. thank you for making your stories known. and thank you for refusing to give up. i will not give up either. together we will keep working for fairness, and the day will come when we can stand together in tularosa when we can light candles of remembrance and when we can finally say that justice has been done. thank you mr. president and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: and i ask consent the senator from tennessee, senator corker, and i be permitted to engage in a short colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: details are still coming in but earlier today between 11:00 and 1:00 there was a violent attack in chattanooga where senator corker was once mayor. right now federal state and local officials are responding in tennessee. i'm deeply disturbed by the reports. we understand a shooting took place at the naval reserve

center in chattanooga and a police officer has been injured. we understand other individuals at the naval reserve center may have injured as well. many schools and local hospitals are locked down. i've been in touch with federal state and local officials and will continue to monitor the situation closely. my thoughts and prayers are with all those involved. mr. corker: i would like to join our senior senator in expressing our deep sorrow for those who have been affected, extending our thoughts and prayers to families. details are still emerging. we believe this has taken place in multiple locations. and i know that local representatives there are dealing with this effectively as they move ahead. i want to thank the senator for having us take the time right now to be able to express our sorrow and support for those who are dealing with this issue and

hope that those who have been injured will certainly survive and end up having full lives. but we know some people have been tragically injured here. we will -- i appreciate the -- i appreciate the reachout that has taken out at the local and state level and federal level to ensure that we're very aware of what's occurring. so with that, i yield the floor. mr. alexander: mr. president i notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: is it time for the vote? the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on s. 1177 an original bill to reauthorize the elementary and secondary education act of 1965, to ensure that every child achieves signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on s. 1177 an original bill to reauthorize the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves, as amended shall be brought to a close.

the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: