in prayer eternal spirit thank you for the promise of this new day a gift from your bounty we praise you for opportunities to solve a problem that keeps so many people in lights margin please make your presence felt today with confidence in your providence and in the ultimate triumph of your purposes empowered them to see their challenges from heaven's perspective and to rejoice that no weapon formed against them will prosper give each lawmaker heightened sense of the special role you have for him or her to play in your unfolding drama of human history we pray in your right to us m schedule that we have this week we've got a lot of things to do but the most religious the most important holiday of the year for those of the jewish faith is this begins this friday at five to poor and so the holiest of days for jews all around the world and there are a number of of the jewish faith that need to be in the west coast by sundown on friday and therefore will probably not have any votes after about ten thirty or quarter to eleven on friday we have a lot of work to do but  this is something that is important and necessary that we do as president let me also say this with remarks i'm about to give this has no negative reflection on my distinguished colleague the center from kentucky know i disagree on a number of issues we have had longstanding debates here in the senate floor about he how he feels about campaign finance reform he approaches this on a intellectual basis  think i'm right he thinks he's right but it doesn't take away from my respect for his having the right to have an opinion here in the senate about how he feels about the issue of campaign finance same issue i can think of us flag burning conclusion he's reached so my marks have nothing to do with any way to denigrate my friends or feelings about this bill this present yesterday we simply celebrated the two hundred twenty the anniversary of the signing of our constitution and i talked about that yesterday and its preamble our founders lay out the values to which our nation has aspired justice as messick tranquility common defense and general welfare the blessings of liberty the government which has under our government service so well recognized these goals can only be secured by equal representation that means right to vote right to elect individuals who will protect and promote our personal rights as well as the national interest universal right to vote was salvaged a long time ago the fifteenth amendment which barred discrimination based on race within one thousand men meant which guaranteed the right for women to vote and where the voting rights act which ensured forstmann of these laws of people no matter their color and eight hundred seventy three susan b anthony face trial for voting illegally a woman who voted in her defense she said and i quote in the first paragraph the declaration of independence is an assertion of the natural right of all to the ballot or how can the consent of the governed be given the right to vote be denied and of quote so today the right to equal representation is still denied to residen these nearly six hundred thousand americans pay federal taxes sit under ease serving our armed forces yet they are given only a delegate in the congress not a real voting member is nothing more than shadow representation this injustice is stood for far too long we haven't voted on this matter for some thirty years it's time we did that again chata representation a shadow citizenship saturn a move to vote on a bill that honors the residents of the district we sponsor the meet every single expectation american citizens that modernize its basic civil right in return i commend senator lieberman who has taken leadership on this issue for no reason and other than he thinks it's the right thing to do i urge all my colleagues to vote for students who would otherwise be unfairly disadvantaged by the lack of an in state university provide scholarships to make up the difference between the in state out of state tuition costs public state universities and doesn't allow any student to get in that does not qualif begin leaders recognized mr president historians tell us that george washington's decision to preside over the constitutional convention lent enstone credibility and respect to the document that it produced and yesterday were called the signing of that document upon which this nation's laws and institutions are firmly built well six years later george washington would lend his reputation to another enduring work white begin to stone and mortar that inspires us and millions of others around the world more than two centuries later on this day in seventeen ninety three george washington laid the cornerstone for the united states capitol building would take nearly a century to complete but the magnificence of the finished product would stand as a testament to the perseverance of generations of americans and to the enduring principles it has met to embody and project and so we pause today to reflect on the many contributions of our first president not only to this nation but also to the city that bears his name the least of which is this gleaming symbol at its heart for under the previous order the leadership time is reserved under the previous order there will now be a period for a transaction of morning business for sixty minutes  senators permitted to speak there in up for up to ten minutes each with the republicans controlling the first thirty minutes in the majority controlling the final thirty minutes subcommittee both from the authorizing and the appropriating side i've worked in the district of columbia on a number of different issues that reside here when i'm on my home state of kansas home is in kansas but i have an apartment here and so i'm living in the district i've talked with many people about the voting rights act issue i am sympathetic with the people of the district of columbia not having an elected delegate the represent them although i know very well the lady that they represented in the house i eleanor holmes norton who is an outstanding representative for the district of columbia although she doesn't have the right to vote on the floor i have worked with her on many issues to rebuild family structure in washington d c with things like marriage development accounts work for their own revitalizing the district of columbia with an economic revitalization bill that we passed my first  united states senate in one thousand nine hundred six worked with her and others on the schools in washington d c and the deplorable state of the schools in washington d c i have worked on all these issues  and i am familiar with this issue of the voting rights act of two thousand and seven and yet i cannot support this bill i can and would support a constitutional amendment allowing the district of columbia the right to vote in the house of representatives i cannot support this voting rights act and i want to speak on the floor this morning and outline why i cannot vote for congress as long recognized that we can only grant district residents the ability to protest a paid in federal elections through constitutional amendments congress has recognized that prior to one thousand nine hundred fifty one for example district residents were not permitted to vote in presidential elections article two section one of the constitution express provides that the electoral college should be a compromise comprised of electors from each state or made state in a number a quote of the states combine congressional delegation in the face of this express constitutional language congress congress recognize that a change in the law would require a change in the constitution itself look at the plain meaning of the statute and plain meaning of the constitution that's why when we granted d c residents the right to participate in presidential elections we went about it the right way by passing what would become the twenty third amendment to the constitution allowing d c residents the right to participate in the presidential election we saw the plain meaning of the constitution and we did the right thing we meant a constitution just as in article two of the constitution which deals with the presidency limited the right to appoint presidential electors to the states article one which deals with the congress clearly and repeatedly limits representation to the house and the senate to the states that's what it says article one says that the house quote big composed of members chosen every second year by the people  several states and electors in each day have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature and the quote requires that each representative quote when elected be an inhabit of that state in which he was chosen it mandated that quote each state have at least one representative in a corner provides that quote when vacancies happen in the representation from each from any state executive authorities there shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies now rarely do we have an issue in the united states senate that has so much plain that in plain language in the constitution involved this one has a lot of plain language in the constitution i believe in strict construction of the constitution i think you'd be hard for me to call myself a strict constructionist and say that we can as a congress bypass the clear meaning in the clear words in the us constitution and say we're just go grant these rights of the district of columbia to have an elected representative vote in the house of representatives even though i support that i think that's something we should do but we should do it the right way by amending the constitution and not the wrong way by passing a law here that is clearly unconstitutional and i'll go through the court cases that have declared it unconstitutional that's clearly unconstitutional and then just say well we'll let the courts sort it out i'm a federal officers well sworn to uphold the constitution and i need to do so in this body and not just say i'm going to hand it off to the courts congressional democrats in one hundred seventy eight recognize this fact that year congress passed and then given district residents a voting seat in the house when the house judiciary under the leadership of democratic chairman peter rodino report out the amendment it company report properly recognize that quote if the citizens of the district are to have voting representation in congress a constitutional amendment is essential statutory action alone will not suffice in quote sadly and i hundred seventy eight amendment failed to garner the support needed from the states to secure we all recognize that many constitutions a very difficult thing but it still remains the right way to deal with something of this nature i'm certainly not alone in concluding that this bill although well intentioned violates the pla language of the constitution the very court that will hear challenges to this bill under its expedited judicial review provision has previously ruled that district residents do not have a constitutional right to congressional representation and adams versus clinton in two thousand seven years ago a three judge panel of the federal district court for the district of columbia concluded that the constitution plainly limited congressional representation to the states  that quote the overlapping and interconnected use of the term state and the relevant provisions of article one the historical evidence of contemporary understand is and the opinions of our judicial forebears all reinforce how deeply congressional representation is tied to the structure of statehood there is simply no evidence that the framers intended that not only citizens of state but unspecified others as well would share in the congressional franchise and to quote role in the house by allowing them to vote in their committees several house members sued challenge the delegates expanded the power in michael vs anderson the federal court for the district of columbia circuit to care to note that their expanded roles pass constitutional must only because they did not give the essential quality of house represent representatives to the delegates in light of the constitution's clearly metate on house membership to representatives from the states i cannot vote for cloture on the motion to proceed to this bill i don't believe that we in congress should act to pass legislation that we know violates the constitution essentially passing the buck to the federal courts to strike down what we never should have enacted in the first place and to strike down what they already spoken on as recently as the year two thousand when we neglect our duty to the constitution we fail to uphold our oath as senators to defend this great document my friends in the senate who support this bill rely primarily on two arguments neither of which outweighs the clear mandate of article two first they claim that another provision the constitution the so called district clause allows congress to essentially grant any sort of legislation relating to the district of columbia including legislation to give d c residents a voting house member of this clause from its congress to pass laws to provide for the general welfare of district residents this bill however does not provide proposed to provide for the welfare of c residents it seeks to alter the fundamental composition of the house of representatives second they correctly point out that there are certain instances in the constitution where reference to citizens of the states has been interpreted to include district residents of d c many of these cases though involve and a vigil rights and it is obvious that d c residents do not lose their rights as citizens of the us by choosing to live in the district for example they retain their right to trial by jury and may bring civil suits and fat accords against citizens of other states this bill however is not a bill about individual rights such as the right to free speech to freedom of religion or due process of long this is a bill about the makeup of the house of representatives itself it is about the delicate balance our constitutional framers struck in affording representation to the states in the house and the senate it is about the fundamental structure of our government we simply cannot override the clear language of the constitution which limits congressional representation to the states simply by legislative and i sympathize of the vote of supporters us bill i'll take seriously my duty to the law upholding the constitution i will support and do support a constitutional amendment allowing d c the right to gain the vote i do not support this bill as i do not believe it to be constitutional under the clear reading of the constitution and under recent interpretations by the court recognize we're six minutes thank you very much mr president is present iraq is today to again urge the entire senate and particularly the majority leader to get the word of bill the water resources development act on to the floor of the senate absolutely as soon as possible for passage mr president of course i represent the state of louisiana and just a little while ago on august twenty ninth we commemorated certainly didn't celebrate but properly commemorated the two year anniversary of hurricane katrina just a little while from now on september twenty fourth we will similarly commemorate the two year anniversary of hurricane rita which devastated southwest louisiana south the katie anna as well as southeast texas and of course the nation and this congress this senate has done an enormous amount with regard to hurricane recovery but we all know that challenge and that of work continues and there is nothing more important with regard to that work with regard to ensuring good strong hurricane flood protection in the future unlike with had in the past clearly in light of hurricane katrina then passing this water resources bill as you know mr president has gone through every stage of the process except passage on the floor of the senate we had a senate bill we had a house bill we had a conference committee we had deliberations the conference committee and i was honored to serve on that conference committee and helped finalize the final conference committee report and even before the august recess the house of representatives passed that conference committee reports so now all eyes are on the floor of the senate that's where we must finish the job that's why i urge senator reid and others to put the word of bill on the floor of the senate as soon as possible recently september six i sent center read a letter following up on numerous discussions we have had with other members urging him to put the bill on the floor as soon as possible certainly during september and i again and again i come to the floor of the senate to urge the senate leadership to do just that in light of the crucial nature of this bill far continued recovery hurricane flood protection in louisiana and mr president i'm particularly disappointed this week that it's not happening while we go to other business including the d c voting rights bill now there are folks very us constitution but that's a legitimate disagreement and we can debate about that and have that legitimate disagreement i don't quarrel with their focus and their passion i do quite frankly quarrel with putting that on the floor of the senate before the word of bill when that word of bail and significant provisions in it are life and death to south louisiana to our recovery in the wake of hurricanes rita those events two years ago last month and this month make the passage of the word a bill a true emergency priority for this body the same cannot be said of the d c voting rights bill or other things that are being considered far senate floor action again those other measures that the see voting rights bill in particular have the proponents and that is their right i don't quarrel with their passion for that but that is not the sort of real emergency as we face in louisiana with regard to the protection we need we are in the m of a hurricane season we are at the peak of the hurricane season and yet we continue to be years and years overdue for this war to vail and all of the very significant provisions it contains for our people for our state for our vanishing coastline from this president in closing i again urge the majority leader to put the word a bill on the floor of the senate as soon as possible and absolutely this month and to a stablished the right priorities for this body and for this country including that very important effort which i believe should be on the floor of the senate game action should gain focus before other measures including the d c voting rights bill that mr president you're on the floor later in the senate they will move to debate on a couple of bills regarding the district of columbia one would allow district high school graduates to a stent to attend any state school at the in the country at end state rates vote on that expected at around noon eastern today they'll break at twelve thirty today for the weekly party lunches and then back at two fifteen for fifteen minutes of debate and then on to a vote at two thirty scheduled for two thirty procedural vote on a bill that would give the district unanimous consent of corn called the suspended without checks and so watered this president there was an event that occurred yesterday in iraq which is significant the decision was made by the iraqi government to order a private security for known as blackwater usa to leave the country involved the fatal shooting of eight iraqi civilians following a car bomb attack against a state department convoy i don't know the circumstances of that attack nor do i know the circumstances that led to the killing of these innocent civilians only a thorough and fair investigation will bring us to any kind of closure on this particular ma but what happened yesterday is going to dramatize to the american people something significant that has occurred in this war in iraq for the first time we are seeing massive numbers of private security contractors who are at work for the united states government in iraq they are in a security or quasar a military capacity i have been to iraq three times they are often dispatched to provide security for visiting members of the cabinet members of congress and i will say at the outset that although i have serious misgivings about blackwater as an organization the individual men who have dedicated their lives to the service are risking their lives in the process and their courage bravery to step up is something that should be acknowledged and never diminished but what this matter will bring to light is the fact that this security contractor blackwater has enjoyed a charmed existence with the bush administration from the start this is another example of a firm that has been given millions of taxpayers dollars to do a job in iraq without accountability without the kind of disclosure basic disclosure which american taxpayers deserve and demand the circumstances of these contracts the particulars involved in them the standards that are applied of them are in a shadowy world that is kept away from public eye by the bush administration from the start that is not only unfortunate it's unfair and we need to do something about it as a government this operation blackwater usa started by mr erik prince of michigan has been politically affiliated with this administration for a long time and now that there have been questions raised about the conduct of their operations they have brought in some of the biggest political heavy hitters in washington to keep their operations cloaked in secrecy and veiled so that the american people don't know what they're all about they do it in the name of security and classified information at a time when we need more transparency and more openness and more accountability the security contractors are often paid three times what ordinary soldiers receive the rules that they operate under much different than those that our military faces every single day in iraq were given monday in tasks and many instances and paid enormous sums of money to perform them to transport kitchen equipment for example in iraq at great expense to our government several years ago in fallujah there was a terrible incident involving several blackwater contractors these contractors were guarding kitchen equipment that was being transported across flew to when they were ambushed and killed it's hard for anyone to forget the images that followed their bodies were dragged out of their vehicles they were beaten and burned and hanged on a local bridge there was videotape in newscasts around the world of this heinous and barbaric act as a result of it our government made an invasion of fallujah and put it risked thousands of american troops to bring some order to that scene what is not well known is that the families of those blackwater security forces contractors who were killed and fl believe that their loved ones were put in harm's way by this company by blackwater where blackwater had promised to these contractors that if they would come to iraq they would be given armored vehicles adequate protection adequate to equipment in fact it was not the case and many of the same contractors who were at risk were complaining about this in fact one who died that day had made a formal request of the leadership of blackwater to make good on their promise to protect their employees who work for blackwater they lost their lives and their families then went to court trying to make sure that blackwater was held accountable as the mother of one of these contractors and a former navy seal said it wasn't about the money it was about accountability and make sure that blackwater a company that was very profitable through this administration in this war actually protected its employees well i need not tell you that they faced an uphill struggle with their lawsuit which is still pending blackwater refused discovery refused to disclose information made every effort they could to keep material witnesses away from this trial and this proceeding and unfortunately the facts have never come forward as they should for all of us to understand where the blackwater security contractors were promised armored vehicles in fact they were given s u v s with little protection where they were promised to have groups to protect them they were sent into harm's way with inadequate numbers  forces time and again this contractor profiting from our government profiting from this administration didn't provide the basic protection it promised to its own employees i think it's time for this congress to open this door to lift this lid and look inside about the security contractors who are contractors who are at work in iraq today at the expense of our government we need to know how many are working we need to know what rules they operate by we need to know what incidents they have been involved in america is held accountable for their conduct even though they may be private sector employees for every iraqi i'm sure they look at them as symbolizing and representing the united states of america and it is our responsibility to ask the hard questions about the security contractors what they're doing and whether or not anything improper has occurred the iraqi government  reached this conclusion and asked them to leave i'll be surprised at the end of the day if they do leave they are so closely connected to the highest levels of this administration it's hard to imagine that they will actually leave the country even after the iraqi government has called publicly for that to happen and so i have asked the leadership on the democratic side to look into the security contractor arrangements as well as the blackwater usa company in particular to get down to the bottom line and the basic question here as to whether these people who are involved in this conduct have done things that really don't advance the cause of peace and stability in iraq that's a legitimate question that should be asked of every contractor involved in business in iraq but mr praed and we know for the last five years hard questions were not asked on capitol hill there was little or no oversight by this congress asking whether our taxpayers were dollars were being well spent whether the right decisions were being made and sadly we find ourselves mired in a war that has cost us almost three thousand eight hundred american lives with more than thirty thousand injured with no end in sight it has been a colossal foreign policy mistake one that we will pay for for generations despite the heroism of our men and women in uniform day in and day out policy makers in washington have let them down this president made an appeal to the american people the other night to allow him to stay the course until he can leave office to think that one hundred thirty thousand soldiers will still be in iraq next year is really unacceptable we have pushed our military to the absolute limit i've been there i've talked to him i've met with their families i've talked to the support groups back home i've visited the better and saw spittles i've seen these soldiers on the battle front as well as back home and they have paid a heavy price for this war the president suggests that we'll just keep one hundred thirty thousand troops there indefinitely until he finds what he can define a success but that isn't good enough we have to make sure that we're sensitive to these soldiers and the toll that's being taken on them personally i'm sorry to report mr president that the bourse rates among american enlisted men now or twice what they are normally among officers three times the suicide rate is the highest it's been since vietnam and unfortunately those who are subject to multiple deployments come back and face many needs for health care and counseling that is a reality we are now paying the highest cash incentives ever in our history for people to and less and to re enlist ten thousand dollars is common if a nineteen year old soldier will agree to show up in six weeks or so they double it twenty thousand dollars in cash to someone fresh out of high school we have changed a lot of rules of eligibility for service in our military and unfortunately are we are pushing them to the absolute limit that is part of the reality of where we are today in iraq it is a reality which the president did not address when he spoke to the american people last week this event yesterday where blackwater was expelled from iraq by their government should be a wake up call to this administration and this congress to provide the kind of meaningful oversight of these private security operations to ask whether these men and women who are under our employ as employees of our government through private contractors have really stood up and done the right thing for our nation many have but those who have not have to be held accountable  president i ask that my next set of remarks be placed separate in the record i ask unanimous consent with objects sorted mr president little later this morning we're going to face an important debate on the d c voting rights act it's one that i support it's a cause that i've supported for a long time it is unimaginable that eight hundred thousand americans have no voice and no vote in congress today but it is a fact it reflects decisions made long ago about whether or not the district of columbia and its residents will be represented in congress there's good reason why this should be specialist darrell dent died in iraq on august twenty sixth two thousand and three roadside bomb exploded under his humvee he was twenty one years old and to go to medical school he was the first national guard member from his hometown to die in combat since vietnam lance corporal greg macdonald died in iraq on june twenty fifth two thousand and three when his humvee rolled as he and six other marines raced to rescue soldiers caught an ambush lance corporal mcdonald then twenty nine years old and a master's degree in hope to make a career in foreign affairs and help colonel making him the highest ranking marine killed in war in iraq at that time army reserve lieutenant colonel paul kimbrel a lawyer who wants to work on capitol hill he was in afghanistan overseeing improvements the living remember force base suffered a fatal heart attack on october third two thousand and three forty four years old captain darrell lewis grew up in a tough housing project earn a scholarship to private school and another scholarship to college graduate  join the army rose through the ranks three months ago on june twenty third he died vasher city afghanistan when his unit was attacked by insurgents using your p g's he was thirty one years old what did these five fallen warriors all have in common the same hometown at the time of their death all five were residents of the district of columbia they died trying to bring democracy to afghanistan and iraq but as residents of the district of columbia when they died they did not have the legal right personally to fully participate in the american democracy mr president that's wrong this week we have an opportunity to right that wrong this week for the first time in thirty years the united states senate will take up a bill to grant the citizens of the district of columbia our nation's capital one voting member in the u s house of representatives i co sponsored this bill i've done this for many years our aim  not to strengthen the hand of either political party but to strengthen democracy and to stand up for fairness for that reason the d c voting rights act would also create an additional house seats for the state of utah i was saddened to learn this morning that president bush has threatened to veto this bill he will ask men and women in the district of columbia to fight and risk their lives so that the people of iraq and afghanistan have a right to vote but has threaten veto the bill which gives those same soldiers the right to vote for congressional representation of their own that's unacceptable it's a weak argument that is made against this proposal our federal has long treated the district of columbia as a state for many purposes and i think when we look at this basic purpose the right to vote for congressional representation the people who live in washington d c deserve it d c residents are required to serve on federal juries register for selective service and why should their right to vote be any different to opponents of these d c voting rights believe the residents of america's capital city should bear the full responsibilities of citizenship but not the full rights it's not just democrats who believe the d c voting bill is constitutional prominent republicans chemist or object camp viet dinh a member of the faculty of georgetown law school they've all testified that this bill meets the constitutional standards today september seventeenth for me september the eighteenth is the two hundred twentieth anniversary of the signing of the united states constitution it is time to celebrate the genius of the framers who had the vision and insight in the year seventeen eighty nine to lay the foundation for what has become the world's oldest democracy the constitution our framers gave us was a brilliant document but not a flawless one at the night full participation and democracy to the people of washington over the past two centuries we have refined the constitution to expand the right to vote for all americans we have expanded freedom some expansions of voting rights have come as a result of constitutional amendments in other cases congress has done it by statute this time this day we will have a chance to expand voting rights in a civil statutory way john lewis is a great hero to my to me and to many others as a young student he risked his life in the civil rights movement the one nine hundred sixty s and he has the scars to show forward he testified about discrimination against african americans as he grew up in alabama he talked about the inspiration he drew from martin luther king and rosa parks he talked about how for we come as a nation when it comes to treatment of african americans and he talked about the progress we've made and this is what he said about this bill we are going to say to the district of columbia we're where people leave this district leave the city they go and fight in our wars and then they can approaches fate in the democratic process that's wrong we should remember john lewis's words we should pass the d c voting rights today mr president i asked my full statement be made part of the record and i yield the floor without objection s why as president i rise to speak in support of h r eleven twenty four and the opportunity it provides for d c s college bound students the program or d c ted provide scholarships to cover the difference between in state and out of state tuition for eligible d c resident attending any public college or even university in the country d c tega was the recipient up to ten thousand dollars a year and fifty thousand dollars total intuition assisted the original purpose of the veil was to address the concern that college bound students in the district were at a disadvantage because d c lacks a state university system d c tag expanded higher education opportunities by allowing students to attend public universities and colleges scholarships of up to two thousand and twenty five hundred dollars annually and twelve thousand five hundred dollars total sold in for ten any historically black college or university or any private school in the district in maryland or virginia qualify for private school grant the success of the program is very very clear since the launch of d c tagon to end the year two thousand participation among d c residents more than double from nine hundred  district students without question i'm pleased to say that a few of those grant went to students attending the university of hawaii at monarch in my home state not only are most sudanese receiving grants more are going to college the college enrollment rate for d c public school students has doubled to sixty percent thirty percent of students in the program are the first ones in their family to attend college d c tag affords many district residents a chance to go to college when they otherwise would not be able to afford it in july my subcommittee on the district of columbia held a hearing with the mayor and his education leadership team on their reform proposal for  michelle rhee and the mare are working very hard to improve the unacceptability at unacceptably low performance and of d c students by recruiting talented teachers reforming a new ministry of offices and repairing crumbling schools in d c they deserve all the support that the congress can provide in their efforts at the cost of college tuition continues as the cost of college tuition continues to rise that both public and private institutions this scholarship program offers the district students hope that if they perform well in high school they can have the same opportunity to i says affordable public higher education as students at virginia in maryland and across the country students who know they have the opportunity to go to college or more likely to perform well in high school the d c tag program supports the m efforts to improve d c public schools by offering students a chance to go to college at a minimal cost to the federal government that they see tax bill was reported out of committee in february and now is the time to finally get it passed i understand my colleague and fellow committee members senator coburn has asked that two amendments  legislation beaten fitted the first amendment would modify their lives about thirty standard for the scholarship recipient to exclude any student whose family earns and then come of one million dollars or more despite the high income threshold i am concerned about starting down the road of making this a needs based scholarship program a program is designed to provide all d c residents access to a range of higher education institution i have agreed to accept this amendment despite my misgivings for the program by increasing the grant amounts for private schools nearly ten times the number of students in the program attend public schools versus private schools and an increase in the grant amounts for private schools would reduce the overall of alle of all funding for us students would be able to participate in a program and low income students trying to attend more affordable public reserve the balance of my time center from wow this president today the center senate considers his my good friend senator cochran has mentioned both believe that is one of the most significant things that congress has done to help the district of columbia's students and i'd like to thank both the majority leader in the minority leader for allowing us to move this bill today this bill passed and warner was freeing needed reauthorization and thank senator for his co sponsorship of the legislation i understand the special relationship between the federal government and the district congress shares the responsibility of making certain that the nation's capital remains a socially economically and culturally vibrant city its former mayor and governor i've always will believe that education is one of the most important factors in ensuring this nation's future not you can imagine my dismay when i came to washington the shining city on the hill and learned that only forty three percent of students entering the ninth grade graduate from high school and even are fewer go on to college one would have thought that our nation's capital the most powerful city in the world would be the home for a first class education system i am very concerned about the dropout rate in our nation america cannot afford to have urban school children drop out of school and become wards of society allows things change we are planning this age for social unrest and as the united negro college fund says a mind is a terrible thing to waste concerned with the future of the district's children representative tom davis crafted the district of columbia college access act which created the d c tag program to issue an assistance program mr president i consider the creation of the d c tag program to be one of the most worthwhile worthwhile things i've done since my time in the united states senate the aim of the d c tag program is to level the playing field for high school graduates in the district of columbia who do not have access to a comprehensive state supported education system by assisting then and attending college before the d c tech program students were only students in the united states the only ones in the united states with a limited state higher education system as a result few district graduates went on to attend college beginning in two thousand d c tax scholarships have been used by district students to cover the difference between in and out of state tuition at state universities senator akaka has already explained the limitations the program but it provides up to ten thousand dollars per year for out of state tuition with a cap of fifty thousand two thousand five hundred for private schools with a cap of twelve thousand five hundred dollars again the way this is worked out is the district has seen an unprecedented increase sixty percent increase in college attendance no other state in the union can make this claim think about that a sixty percent increase in college attendance more than fifteen hundred d c tax recipients have graduated from college in my home state of ohio there are currently seventy four district students attending eleven universities including ohio state kent state and bowling green state university i truly believe that the majority of the students would not be attending colleges and universities in ohio without the d c cad program i'm particularly proud of the fact that many d c tag recipients are the first the first in their family to attend college and a survey says students attending the district's h d woodson high school seventy five percent of the respondents felt the d c tag made a difference in their decision and ability to continue their education beyond high school and i know how in portland this is because in my own situation my father was raised by foster parents and it didn't look like he'd have a chance to go on to college george in school and they found a jab at night and then they also helped him to attain a scholarship from kroger's and went on to carnegie tech to become an architect and i don't know what would have happened had it not been for those college that would best suit their needs erica who attends virginia state university and is supported by your grandparents living on fixed income said without the help of the sea tac i would not be able to attend college and rhonda a full time single working mother said the support i received is unmatched d c tagg made my future come true before hearing of the grants that exist that i had no intention of pursuing higher education let alone attending a private school that ranks in the top ten across the nation his contribution to my life has inspired me to help others as i have been so richly blessed these stories and many other successes of the tech program have resulted in this really important mr president a private sector taking a vested interest in improving opportunities for the kids in the district the public private partnership modeled after the cleveland scholarship program called the district of columbia college access program where d c cap was established in ninety nine by don graham of the washington post and other washington area corporations and foundations to assist the district high school students with their enrollment and graduation from college d c cap is privately funded a nonprofit organization that provides full time counseling and financial assistance available throughout their college career to students who might otherwise never have the opportunity to go on to college to date d c cap has dispersed almost ten million dollars in funding fifty three hundred students and is provide its counseling services to seventy one thousand people and similar to the population served by the d c tech program the majority survey students are from low income minority single parent households with many of the first in their family to attend college it's important to understand that if without the d c tag program we would not have the d c cap program they were so impressed with the fact that we were willing to step up and do something and give these kids an opportunity for education they said the private sector ought to step in and they created this public private partnership building on the success of the d c tag in the public private cap program the bill and melinda gates foundation announced this year one hundred twenty two million dollar grant program eight a at improving urban education in the district the program known as the d c achievers programs represents one of the foundations largest investments to date and education the intention of becoming a model for other communities throughout the united states they chose the district because of the fact that we had d c tag and the cap program and the scholarships are designed to jumpstart the low high school and college graduation rates among students living in certain d c neighborhoods they're going to concentrate their attention with the president and two regions of the district where there is a sixty six percent dropout rate think of that so i'm i'm i'm i'm hopeful that that with with these programs continuing we're going to really make a big difference in the district in addition to the programs that i've just mentioned we've got america's first federally funded scholarship program that was created as part of the d c choice incentive act of two thousand and three under this program each district scholarship student rees up receives up to seventy five hundred dollars per year for tuition transportation as these so they may attend a nonpolitical school last year eighteen hundred could kids participated in this program and sit at sixty six not public schools in the district and a number of the students have used the d c tech to which in grants to help their dream of higher education become a reality and it was available to them and then back in ninety six we created the charter schools in the district and take over thirteen thousand students are tending thirty four charter schools in the district in other words we are really starting to make some progress in supporting the charter school program is the federal city council a nonprofit organization composed of been funded by approximately two hundred local businesses and educational leaders it's chaired by the former oklahoma governor frank keating members of the president's catus and a number of key federal laws fishel service trustees that council has spirited the business community's support for reforming the district's public school system in other words we're bringing together tremendous resources today where we're going to try and make a difference in an urban district in this country it's about sixty five thousand kids today in the district that make a difference in their lives so that maybe in the next several years we can start talking about an urban education system that actually works and that's why this reauthorization is so very very important only to the district but it could be the model for the rest of the united states of america we have got to break this dropout rate that we're having in urban school districts where this country is  so i say it's successful because we have brought together the public and private sectors to make a difference and that's what it is no other words we realize that the that the district school system is just one thread in this community and if it's going to be successful that's going to take their federal partner it's going to take their private partner working together to make a real difference for the kids in this in this community and senator cochran the senator from why mention the fact that we brought on michelle rhee who's who by the way i'll tell you if it had bin for the d c tag if it wasn't for the capitol wasn't for the gates foundation if it wasn't for some of these other things that we have i don't think would have been able to land or terrific but she sees the potential this young woman who is just dynamic as all get out she sees the potential of that in opposition of what this bill's goal is and i think the senator from ohio and i know the senator from wine knows that but there's two really blighting things wrong with this bill there's a limited amount of money everybody agrees that we've allocated going to be about thirty eight million dollars this year there's going to go for this program that's what the spend that's going to be and right now twenty families who make over a million dollars a year are taking an opportunity from twenty families who are below the poverty level twenty families right now are taking this program whose household income is greater than a million dollars a year now why would we have a program that says the richest in this country we're going to pay for their college education and want to do that on the backs of the poorest in this country these twenty people that are in college today whose families make more than a million dollars a year are stealing opportunity from twenty kids nineteen percent of the district lives under the poverty level so we're taking because we don't have an earnings test on this now i put this amendment that i'm going to call up in a minute at a million dollars a year because it's ridiculous to think that somebody earning a million dollars a year can afford to pay for their kids college but their members should have been at we are four hundred thousand dollars a year because when you extrapolate that number you've got four or five hundred kids that are now taking the opportunity from kids who have no income or live in before the below the poverty level so the idea of helping people in the district hanson people to come to the discrete to get an education is a great idea there's not a thing wrong with this program but it is very shortsighted to say that we don't want to put an earnings test on something because it might change the program the fact is the programs are being changed by the wealthy taking advantage of it to the disadvantage of the kids who can't get this grant and so the idea of putting a test as high as i've made it so that nobody and i read in the paper this morning that the house is house is going to object to a million dollars per year or any test on this program just do a little finger commonsense poll and talk to the american people do they really think their taxpayer dollars ought to be spent on sending somebody to college whose parents make a million dollars a year the answer that would we have any resistance at all in the house or this body to put in an arm and to limit it a million dollars it makes no sense the second problem with this bill is what we have done is we've discriminated against historically bad black private nonprofit universities because they're private morehouse spelman college still tuskegee we're going to yeah we'll let you go if you're from washington d c if you want to go to those but we're only going to give you twenty five hundred dollars one to give you ten thousand to go to one of the great historical black colleges because it's private nonprofit we're go limit your ability to embrace your culture at one of the historic black colleges because it happens to be a private nonprofit university we're going to say you can only have twenty five hundred dollars and by the way if you have a good reason that you might want to pursue a field of study that's not offered at one of the universities the state public supported universities but is offered at a private we're going to discriminate against you again we're going to say we'll give you twenty five hundred so what we're doing is we're putting a carrot out there and saying you can't quite get the care you can't quite get the care why would we discriminate between private and non private if a child wants to seek a certain level of education that is not available anywhere except that if we want opportunity for these kids we ought to give them opportunity and we ought to let the choice be there let them choose to go if they want to go into bio neurologic sciences where can they get that private university can't get a public or if they want to go into some other area that is not available to them in a public fashion through a public university we're going to say yeah you can but you  get seventy five percent less benefit than everybody else get because you choose to go into a field of endeavor that may be highly sought after that's not offered at a public university so the idea behind the bill is good the goal of increasing what the chairman and ranking member want to do in terms of d c is right it's right headed but if we were really thinking about how do we help the most kids we would let the first dollar go to parents making five hundred thousand dollars a year or three hundred thousand dollars a year we'd let it go to the kids that aren't that this twenty percent of the population that lives under the poverty level that's where we send the money but we have in the name sake of what we had not want to change and not allow the flexibility for more impoverished children to get that college education because we just don't want to change we don't want to allow young african american male to go to morehouse college because we're not we're going to give him seventy five hundred dollars less here to go there than if he chose some other university why why would we not want to enhance that culture for him so i would call up as the penn any opinion members be set aside and call up the amendment to eight eight eight and ask for its media consideration the clerk report these senator from oklahoma mr coburn proposes an amendment number twenty eight eighty eight zero evidence at the end of the bill and discriminate against private schools let's let the kids go where they want let's give them an equal shot at morehouse at tuskegee at spelman and stillman let's let him have an equal shot to go there as well as everywhere else we decided you can't we're going to make you more disadvantaged to go to some place that's culturally better for you so i would ask the reconsideration on the part of the member the chairman and the ranking member for this amendment sense it treats every sought after the gree the say we don't discriminate between private and public it doesn't change the privates outside of where the restrictions are already it doesn't say every private university in the american can have it what it just says is if you're going to say we're going to hold this apple out in front of you and here's your education and we're going to give you a fair shot whether you want to go to a private school or a public school that's on the list we're going to treat you the same and we're going to hope that no matter which one you go to that you finish that education and come back and become a productive member contributing to d c that's what that's what it's about it's not expanding the realm of private universities it's just saying that if i choose to go to morehouse that i get the same treatment is if i choose to go to oklahoma state  the university of hawaii i get the same treatment don't take away give me don't give me part of an apple give me the whole apple give me everything i'd ask unanimous consent that that amendment be set ask consent that i'm in the reading and then be dispensed with without objection this amendment the just as if you make a million dollars a year we shouldn't be paying for your kids go to college the rest the american taxpayer shouldn't i'm disappointed to hear the musings from the house that would say they're going to get this when you all get to conference they're not going to accept it it is amazing to me that anybody in this country would think that the federal all of us collectively ought to pay for their children's education if we're to do that then let's pay for everybody's education across the country but that's not what this bill is about this bill is about trying to direct funds to those kids who won't have an opportunity for college without these funds and by give those funds to the well to do families who do not need or require our help to send their children to college we're stealing opportunity from those kids there's a limited amount of money everybody knows that there's a limited pie here and for those twenty times fifty thousand that million dollars is not going to be spent on somebody this living below the poverty level want to get out and want to go up so my hope is and i understand that  the chairman and ranking members opinion that they'll accept this and then i graciously thanked them for that and my hope would be is that you would hold this as we discuss this with the house it's ludicrous to take this away than a million dollars but the fact of the matter is that what we tried to do we put this program together was to mimic what we were doing in states today around the country and in my state we have a very university which is subsidized it may make over a million dollars or maybe some that make three hundred fifty thousand dollars but but as our state is chosen not to do that is up as a matter of public po the private college as we look at what we do around the country and if you're in a state of ohio in your resident of ohio we have a special program and that says if you go to a private school you don't get the full subsidy that you would get if you go to a public school but we provide the private schools up to two thousand five hundred dollars so that you can attend a private school and we put this program together we had a limitation same as we have in a state and we took certain areas of the virginia and maryland and brought them like as part of the state and said if you go to the university of maryland if you go to the university of virginia then you can participate in this program but what we realized at the time i was that the number of people trying to get in the maryland and virginia was so large that it wouldn't give these kids the chance they need to have so they get into school so we open it up the public colleges all over the united states of america and so as senator caucus says or people into why i'm sure we've got people in pennsylvania as president we've got them in ohio all over the place oklahoma and so we're trying to do it a state would do the other thing that we did which was unusual is that we do know we have historically black colleges around the country and we provided a special program that those private colleges even though they're outside of the region of the district of columbia that the children would be able to receive up to twenty five hundred dollars and that really lays out why this poll poke came together and what the senator from oklahoma is making mention that he wants everybody to get the same amount of money and if we provide equal funding for private and public colleges as proposed by the amendment we would be limiting the region of what is very successful program the current level of funding for d c tag is about thirty three point two million if the programs were expanded to allow districts students attending eligible private colleges to receive grants up to ten thousand dollars funding would have to be increased significantly to serve the existing population served by the d c tag as mentioned earlier in the debate the average grant him out per student is six thousand five hundred dollars they don't get the ten they get at the average of six thousand five hundred and given our current fiscal constraints thirty five hundred dollar difference would have to be made up somewhere of the sixty four hundred students enrolled in the d c tag today eight hundred eighty six are attending private colleges these students are receiving more than almost well just about two million dollars if this amendment were to pass funding would have to increase by over five million to cover these students or the district would have to reduce the number of students attending public universities by eight hundred seventy five students so it's a matter of money  and dividing it up and my guess is that that would result in fewer students fewer students attending college because the pool of available money would shrink mr president i would hope that none of my account my colleagues are willing to ask eight hundred seventy five students not to attend college this program has been an unprecedented success since the first grants were handed out in two thousand there is an old saying i believe that i have believed in my entire career in government forty years every day brokered don't fix this program is not broken this program is one of the most successful programs in the united states of america to reduce dropout rate increase the attendance of youngsters and to get a college education and i hope that my colleagues that are listening are paid attention right now will vote against this amendment because i don't think that it's going to add one iota to this people in the district of columbia are paying higher income taxes to the united states of america and so the people of ohio who send their children to ohio state even though they pay in state tuition actually pay more for that college because they pay much higher percentage of the state budget and the state of ohio like the state of oklahoma has decided that with that increased income we will grant everybody but it doesn't cost the same so the argument is in terms of the difference in incomes those people who make exceptional incomes in ohio and oklahoma actually pay more for their kids to go to college in their state because they pay a much higher percentage of the total income in the state the second point is i think the general drive if it didn't broke don't fix it this is one of the rare programs that ought to be expanded but we have terrible priorities in the senate and in this government and so we want to take another ten million dollars to make sure more kids go and get rid of some duplicious earmark somewhere that's a favor for some politician somewhere so that we can enhance in fact enhance it this is a very straightforward amendment it just says would you discriminate against somebody who wants to go to a private college over a public college and that's what we're doing and the answer is because we don't have enough money and that's the answer the answer really is is that we won't don't have enough money and so therefore if we give the same amount of scholarship to private schools as we give the public we won't have enough money for eight hundred eighty six people who are getting a full boat nail the answer to that is here's a program that's working here's where we ought to have priorities here's where we ought to be putting more money rather than less but the answer are closed minded answer in washington is that's all the money we got even though this would work in that a lot of other programs aren't work and we're not going to defund those programs aren't working we're not going to measure with a metric whether they're effective or not we're just going to let them go and here's a good program that is making a difference in people's lives and we're not going to go five for more money to me that says it all about where we are in washington today president i just like to say that  and i'm really pleased that the the junior senator from oklahoma is talking about of a federal program where he wants to see more money spent i think that that's terrific and the fact is you do agree that this is a very special program i'd like to point out to you that show to the appropriators because year after year they have provided more money for this program initially it started out at about seventeen billion dollars they're at the bout thirty three point three so in their consideration of the importance of this program they have in fact provided more money for it because it is a very very worthwhile successful program the fact of the matter is that we all believe that if we even did out across the board that last of our youngsters from the socially to kids in this in this that in the district would be able to take it take advantage of the program and again i want to emphasize we tried to copy what we do in states like ohio where we say to private schools you're here god bless you and and we give them not not the total subsidize the sixty five hundred they get up to twenty five hundred dollars for those students and i think that if you're thinking about kids that really need help i know in my state if you've got a youngster that's that's got some potential by the way these youngsters that have the potential are taking advantage of the college assistance program that the private sector is set up here that's headed up by don graham over at the washington post so they come in with this little extra money for that we also have the pell grant programs that are available to these individuals and i can tell you this that if we had a bright kid in the district that was qualified to go to georgetown just mentioned a young lady here that's that's that's at one of the top universities that they have special programs that they reach out and say here's a youngster like my dad that really bright hardworking and we're going to give them some extra like dad got when he was at carnegie tech to help him so he could get it go on to get his architectural degree so i think we're talking about reality here and we're talking about a program that that's really making a difference and i respectfully say that i think that the proposal really doesn't help the program but rather takes away from it remarks senator coburn's amendment threatened to reduce the number of participants in a program by a nearly one thousand students in order to increase the cost of the program via more than five million dollars furthermore it conflicts with the intent of the legislation because of the high number of private schools in the district congress allowed students who chose to stay close to home a greater range of options similar to a state school program however it was never intended to supplement the private education to the same degree as public education once again i urge my colleagues to vote against his amendment and in support of the underlying bill and at this reason the average is sixty five hundred dollars is because you only give twenty five hundred to the private if you took all the privates out the average would be ten thousand dollars that's what you get and so to play the game with numbers is not accurate because when you filter in the twenty five hundred dollars you get that average of sixty five hundred dollars i would make the point again is you in fact are discriminating against a young minority child living in d who says i want to go to morehouse state and i want to major in x morehouse state i know heroes of mine that i went to morehouse things under this bill you say you can't do that they may be bright but twenty five hundred dollars compared to that education vs ten thousand the public doesn't begin and they get to accomplish the level of financing and and scholarships will be next to for a spending increase on appropriation bill that'll make history in the senate that would make history we could do that and we could find the money to do that the point is why should we take opportunity away why should we be the parlay years of somebodies lost opportunity we ought to give it to all and all to be equally based and it ought to be based on their aspirations their hopes for what they want to do and we should not artificially say because you want to go here this is all the opportunity you get but if you want to go somewhere that doesn't excite you doesn't stimulate you in going to get years good education will give you more money i think that is inherently wrong and this event pages to the very people that we're trying to help not only should we want to get the education we should want to get the best education so they can be the best that they can be and with that i says clinton mr coburn mr cochran mr coleman ms collins mr conrad mr cork mr levin mr lieberman mrs lincoln mr lott mr lugar mr martinez mr mr roberts mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr schumer mr sessions mr shelby mr smith ms snow mr specter  mr stevens mr stevens mr stevens  mr carper no cured durban mr durban no mr sanders mr sanders no mr and no way mr no way no mr ground mr graham mr conrad coleman mr coleman no mr casey mr casey  i mean just to the point any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote senate will come to order please take your conversations out of the senate the senate will come to order the senator from hawaii president i move to reconsider without objection the question occurs on passage of the bill as amended all in favor say aye aye aye those oppose no at the moment there is not a sufficient second this is mary mr nelson of florida mr nelson of nebraska mr stevens i s so i