cleanse the thought of our hearts by the inspiration of your present lead our senators your chosen servant as  face their daily responsibilities help them to maintain and sully integrity may they regard their public office as a sacred trust always striving to please you and guard them through the storms lawmakers that leaders must be just and good then they will be like the light of the morning when the sun rises they will be like the tender grass springing from the earth like sunshine after the rain we pray in the name of him who  the clerk will read a communication to the senate washington d c february twenty fifth two thousand and eight to the senate under the provisions of rule one paragraph three of the standing rules of the senate i hereby appoint the honorable jim webb a senator from the commonwealth of virginia to perform the duties of the chair signed robert c byrd president pro tempor under the previous order the leadership time is reserved under the previous order of the senator from arkansas mr pryor will be recognized to deliver george washington's farewell address friends and fellow citizens the period for a new election of a says a citizen to master executive government of the united states being not far distant and the time actually ride when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be closed with the important trust it appears to me proper especially as it may conducive to a more distinct expression of the public voice that i should now surprise you of the resolution i have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made big you at the same time to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which by a dutiful citizen future interest nor deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness but i am supported by full conviction that this step is compatible with both  of and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrage is have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to the difference for what appeared to be your desire constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power consistently with motives which i was not at liberty to disregard to return to the retirement from which i had been reluctantly drawn the strength of my inclination to do this previous to the last election had even led to the preparation of an address to declare to you but mature reflection on that then perplexed posture of our affairs with foreign nations and the unanimous advise of persons entitled to my confidence impelled me to abandon the idea i rejoice that the state of your concerns external as well as internal no longer renders the pursuit of the inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriet and am persuaded whatever partiality may be retained from a service that in the present circumstances of our country you will not disapprove ma determination to retire the impressions with which i first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion in the discharge of this trust i will only say that i have with good intentions contributed toward the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications experience in my own eyes perhaps still more in the eyes of others has strengthened the motives to diffident of myself in every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my service they were temporary i have the consolation to believe that while choice in prudence invite me to quit the political scene patriotism does not forbid it and looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep knowledge meant of that debt of gratitude which i owed to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me and for the opportunities i have thence enjoyed and manifested my inviolable attachment by service is faithful and perseverance though in usefulness unequal to mosul if benefits have resulted to our country from these services but it always be remembered to your praise and as an instructive example  often discouraging in situations in which not frequently want of success has countenance the spirit of criticism the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans by which they were affected profoundly penetrated with the idea of carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing valves that heaven may continue to you the choice is tokens of its beneficence that your union of brotherly affection may be perpetual that the free constitution which is the work of your hands may be sacredly maintained and that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue that inside the happiness of the people of these states under the auspices liberty may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of the blessings as will acquire to them the glory of recommending to the applause the affection and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it here perhaps out to stop but in solicitude for your welfare which cannot but with my life and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude urge me on in a cage on an occasion  a present to offer to your solemn contemplation and to recommend to your frequent review some sentiments which are the result of much reflection and no considerable observation and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a people these will be offered to you with the more freedom as you can only see in them that is interested warnings of a parting friend who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel nor can i forget as an encouragement to it your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion interwoven as in the law of liberty with every ligament of your heart's no recommendation of mine is necessary to fo confirm the attachment to the unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you it is just the so for it is a main pillar in an edifice of your real independence the support of your tranquillity at home your peace abroad your safety of your prosperity of the very liberty which you so highly prized but as it is easy to perceive that from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will the most constantly and actively although often covertly and insidiously directed it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness that you should cherish a cordial  immovable attachment to it accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity watching for its preservation with every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to in feeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts for this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest citizens by birth or choice of a common country that country has a right to concentrate your affections the name of american which belongs to you in your national capacity most always exult the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations with slight shades of difference you have the same religion manners habits and political principles you have any common cause thought in triumph together the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels and joint efforts of common dangers sufferings and successes but these considerations however powerful they address themselves to your sensibility our greatly outweigh those which apply more immediately to your interest here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole the north and in under strained intercourse with the south protected by the equal laws of the common government in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime commercial enterprise and precious materials manufacturing industry the south in the same intercourse benefiting by the agency of the north sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand turning partly into its own channels of seamen of the north it finds its particular navigation invigorated and while it contributes in different ways to nourish increase the general mass of the national navigation it looks forward to the protection of the maritime strength to which itself is an equally adapted to the east in a like intercourse with the west already finds and in the progressive improvement of interior communications about land and water will more and more find a valuable vet for the commodities which is which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home the west derives from the supplies where it was it to its growth and comfort and what is perhaps of still greater importance it must of necessity of the secure enjoyment of the indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight influence in the future maritime strain of the atlantic side of the union directed by the indissoluble community of interest as one nation any other ten year by which the west can hold this essential advantage whether derived from its own separate string or from an apostate in a natural connection with any foreign power must be intrinsically precarious but in every part of our country  immediate and particular interest in union all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means in efforts greater strength greater resource proportionately greater security from external danger a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations and what is the nest more value they must arrive from union and exemption from those of broyles and wars between themselves which know which so frequently affect neighboring countries not tied together by the same government which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce but which opposite foreign alliances attachments and intrigues would stimulate and embitter hence likewise they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which under any form of government are to liberty and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty in the in this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop for your liberty and that the love of the one ought to endear you to the preservation of the other these considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind and exhibit the continent's continuance of the union as a primary object of patriotic bizarre is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere let experience solve it to listen to mere speculation in such a case was criminal are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the agency of governments for their respective subdivisions will afford a happy issue to the experiment it is well worth a fair involved and full experiment with such powerful and obvious motives to union affecting all parts of our country while experience shall not have demonstrated its impractica there will always be reason to distress to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its hand its bands and contemplating th causes which may disturb our union kurz as a matter of serious concern that any good round should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical determinations northern and southern atlantic and western whence designing may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interest in views one of the acts one of the expedience a party to acquire influence within a particular districts is to mis represent the opinions and names of other districts you cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealous in heart burnings  which spring from these misrepresentations they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection the inhabitants of our western country have lately had useful lesson on this head they have seen in the negotiation by the executive and the unanimous ratification by the senate of the treaty with spain and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the united states a decisive prove how unfounded war the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the general government and in the atlantic states unfriendly to their interests in regard to the mississippi they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties that with great britain and that with spain which secure to do everything they could desire in respect to our foreign relations towards confirming their prosperity will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of those advantages on the union by substitute they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances and all times have experiences since all of this momentous truth you have improved upon your first essay by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union and for the management of your of your common concerns this government the all spring of our own choice an influence in all i'd adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation completely free and its principles in the distribution of its powers uniting security with energy and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment has a just claim to your confidence and your support and respect for its authority compliance with its laws acquiescence in its measures our duties in joined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty the basis for our political system is the right of the people to make an alter their constitution of government but the constitution which it any time exists until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacred obligatory upon all the very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to  a the established government all of struction zx to the execution of the laws all combinations and associations under whatever plausible character with the real design to direct control counteract or all the regular deliberations of actions of the constituted authorities are destructive of this fundamental principle and a fatal tendency they serve to organize faction to give it an artificial and extraordinary force to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community and according to the alternate triumphs of different parties to make the public administration the mirror of the ill concerted and incan gr us projects of faction rather than the organ consistent with the wholesome plans the jest had by common councils and modified by mutual interest however combinations or associations of the above description may now in then answer popular in us they are likely in the course of time in things to become potent engines about which cunning a and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government destroying afterwards the very in engines which have lifted them to unjust domination towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state it is requisite not only that principles however specious or pretexts one method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown in all the changes to which you may be invited remember that time and have it are at least as necessary to fix the true character of government as of other human institutions that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of the country that has that facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypotheses and opinion exposes to perpetual change from the in this ferocity of hypotheses and opinion and remember especially that for the efficient management of your common interest in a country so extensive as ours a government of as much bigger as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable liberty itself will find and such a government with powers properly distributed and adjusted its surest guardian it is indeed a little else than a name where the government is too feeble to a stand the enterprises faction two can find each member of the society within the limits prescribe by the laws and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of persons and property i have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical the discrimination let me now make a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the bank full efforts of the spirit of party generally this spirit unfortunately is inseparable from our nature having its roots in the strongest passions of the human mind its existence exists under different shapes of all governments more or less stifled controlled  oppressed but in those of the popular form it is seen in the greatest frankness and is truly their worst enemy the all turn the alternate domination of one faction over another sharpened by the spirit of or binge natural the party dissention which in different ages and countries has perpetuated the most horrid enormities is itself a frightful despotism but this leads at least to a more formal in permanent despotism the disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the mind of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction able and more fortunate than his competitors his disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty without looking forward to the extremity of this kind which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight the common and continual mischievous of the spirit party are sufficient to make it make it the interest of the duty of the wise people to discourage and restrain it it serves always to distract the public counsels and in feeble the public administration it agitates to it a the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms kindles the animosity of one part against another foments occasionally riots and insurrection it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy in the will of another there is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty this within certain limits is probably true in governments of monarchial caste patriotism may look with indulgence if not with favor of on the spirit of party but in those of the popular character and governments purely elective it is a spirit not to be encouraged from their natural tendency it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every say a tory purpose in there being constant danger of excess and efforts ought to be the force of public opinion to mitigate in assuage it a fire not to be quenched it demands a uniform gillette's to prevent its bursting into a flame lest instead of warming it should consume it is important likewise that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with the administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres avoiding to the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another the spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments into one and to create whatever the form of government a real despotism a just estimate of that love power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position the necessity of reciprocal weal against invasions by the others has been events by experiment ancient and modern some of them in our country and then our own eyes to preserve them must be as necessary as to institute if in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong let it be corrected by the amendment in the way which the constitution designates but let there be no change by usurpation for though this in one instance may be an instrument of good it is the customary weapon by those free governments are destroyed the precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which they use can it any time of all that dispositions inhabits which lead to political prosperity religion and morality are indispensable supporters in vain would that man claim to the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens the mere politician equally with the pious man altars back and cherish them a volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity let it simply be asked where is the security for prosperity for reputation for life if the sense of religious obligations desert which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice and let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion whenever any whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure reason and experience both for a bit us to accept that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle it is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government the rule indeed extends with much more or less force to every species of free government that is a sincere  friend can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundations of the fabric promote then as the object of the primary importance institutions for the general the fusion of knowledge in proportion to the structure of government gives force to public opinion it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened as a very important source of strength and security cherish public credit one method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible avoiding occasions and expense circular cultivating peace but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt not only by shunning occasions of expense but by digger a successor sions in time of peace to discharge the debts with unavoidable wars may have occasion not ungenerously throwing up on the burden we ourselves ought to bear and the execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate to facilitate to them the performance of their duty it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue that to have revenue there must be taxes that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant and that the in transit embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects which is always choice of difficulties ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of government in making it and for a spirit of acquiesce in the measure for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at any time dictate to observe good faith in justice towards all nations cultivate peace and harmony with all religion and morality enjoying this conduct and can it be with good policy not equally enjoying it it will be worthy of a free enlightened and no distant period a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous into novel example of the people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence we can doubt that in the course of time in things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by steady it here it's to it can it be that providence has not connected the permanent felicity the nation with its virtue and the experiment at least is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature alas is it rendered impossible by its vices in the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than the permanent inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments of others should be excluded and that in place of them just an amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated a nation which indulges towards another will hatred or will find this is to some degree a slave it is a slave to its animosity or its affection either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest antipathy to one nation against another disposes each more collisions obstinant in then and and bloody contests the nation prompted by ill will and resentment sometimes in perils the to war the government contrary to the best calculations of policy the government sometimes participates in the national prosperity and adopts through passion that reason would object at other times it makes the animosity of the nation so absurd to projects of hostility instigated by pride and mission and other sinister and pernicious motives the peace often sometimes perhaps the liberty of nations has been the victim so likewise a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils sympathy for the favorite nation facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists and infusing into one the him a tease of the other betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification it leads also to the concessions of the favorite nation privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to endure the nation making the concessions by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retaining and by exciting jealousy ill will and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom the equal privileges are withheld and it gives to envision gi and deluded citizens who devote themselves to the favored nation facility to train or sacrifice the interest of their own country without odium sometimes even with popularity gilding with the appearance of the virtue a sense of obligation a commendable deference for public opinion or a lot of all zeal for public good the bass or foolish compliance of ambition corruption and infatuation as avenues to foreign influence in numerable ways such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriots how many opportunities do they have for to tamper with domestic factions to practice their arts is about to mislead public opinion to influence or all the public councils such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great  powerful nation them's the former to be a satellite of the latter against the insidious wiles of a foreign influence conjure you to believe me fellow citizens the jealousy  people ought to be constantly awake since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most bang for foes of republican government but that jealousy is to be useful must be impartial else it becomes an instrument of the very influence to be avoided instead of the defense against it excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike for another cause those whom they act you wait to see danger only on one side and certain veil and even second the arts of influence on the other real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected odious while its tools and do you sir in applause applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests the great rule of cond for us in regard with foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have them as little political connections as possible so far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith here let us stop europe has a set of primary interests which have none or very remote relation hints she must be engaged in frequent controversies the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns hence therefore it must be unwise to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her policy over politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendship or in mathias our detached and distant situation in bytes in enables us to pursue a different course if we remain one people under the efficient government the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance when we may take such an attitude as we cause a new  neutrality we may at any time resolve on to be scrupulously respected when belligerent nations under the in possibility of making acquisitions upon a sworn not lightly hazard giving us provocation when we may choose peace or war as our interest guided by justice shall counsel why forgo the advantages of so peculiar a situation why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground why by the inner weaving of our destiny with that of any part of europe in tangle our peace in prosperity in the toils of european ambition rival ship interest humor or caprice it is our troops policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world so far i mean as we now are at liberty to do it for let me not be understood as capable of patronising in fidelity t existing engagements i hold the maxim no less political to public then in private affairs that honesty is always the best policy i repeat it therefore let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense but in my opinion it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them take care always to keep ourselves with suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture we may safely trust to temporarily temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies harmony liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by policy humanity and interests but even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences consulting the natural course of things diffusing the th diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce that forcing nothing establishing with powers so disposed in order to give to trade a stable course to defying the rights of our merchants and to enable the government to support them conventional rules of intercourse the the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit but temporary and liable to be from time to time abandon or varied as experience and circumstances shall dictate constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another that it must pay for a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character that by such acceptance it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors and yet being reproached with ingratitude and not giving more there can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation it is an illusion which experience most pure which a just pride  discard in offering to you my countryman these councils of an old and affectionate friend i dare not hope that they will make the strong and lasting impression i could wish that they will control the usual current of passions or prevent our nation from running the course which is here to mark the destiny of nations but if i may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit some occasional good that they may now and then recur to moderate and fury the party spirit to warn against the misuse of foreign intrigue to guard against the impostures pretended patriotism this hope will be a f have at least believed myself to be guided by them in relation to the still subsisting war in europe proclamation of the twenty second of april seventeenth ninety three is the index to my plan sanctioned by your approving voice and by that of your representatives in both houses of congress the spirit of that measure has continually governor me uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it after a deliberate examination with the aid of the best light socket obtain i was well satisfied that our country under all circumstances of the case had a right to take and was bound in duty and interest to take a neutral position having taken it i determined as far as should have been upon me to maintain it with moderation perseverance and firmness the considerations which respect the right to hold this  conduct it is not necessary on this occasion to detail i will only observe that according to my understanding of the matter that right so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers has been virtually admitted by all the duty of holding a neutral conduct may be conferred without anything more from the obligation which justice and humanity imposes on every nation in cases in which it is free to act to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amitie towards other nations the inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience with me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature it yet recent institutions and to progress without interruption so that decree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it humanly speaking the command of its own not to think it probable that i have committed many errors whatever they may be fervently besiege the almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may ten shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them to view them with indulgence and that after forty five years of my live dedicate to the service with an upright zeal the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest relying on its kindness in this as another things and actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man that who views in it the native soul of myself projectors for several generations i anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which i promise myself to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment  overtaking in the midst of my fellow citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free government an ever favorite subject object of my heart and a happy reward as  trust of our mutual cares labors and dangers george washington united states nineteen september seventeenth ninety six mr president this president is just the mr alexander occurred on passive h r thirteen twenty eight now be effective on passage of s twelve hundred all the provisions of previous orders remain in effect as objection without objections or is present today we've heard the present in the months since this year your shell sessions open we've had the ability to focus on some of the divisive priorities our country faces today we turn to the indian health proven and although we've often have legitimate disagreements on matters of policy center mcconnell and members republican caucus caucus and work with us in a bipartisan manner on what we believe is critical piece of legislation that does so much for the native legislation because of their efforts and those of countless tribal leaders and federal agency staff there's legislation democrats republicans can also port now final word of praise is due to the tribal advocates who have stood behind this cause from beginning  national congress for american indians national indian health board the national council of urban indian health the indian health board of nevada and other state tribal organizations have played crucial roles in this legislation i say with confidence this bill reflects their priorities their varied interests and their solutions to the problems that plague the healthcare system upon which native americans rely i was glad to be an original co sponsor of this initiative over the past eight years my staff and i have had countless meetings with tribal leaders now tribal leaders have made it clear how this legislation is needed all over the country and as the different thirty thousand native americans living in a vat and millions living throughout the united states now our native american communities have access to the least adequate health care in america far too many native children diagnosed with diabetes suffer from the view's neglect and die prematurely because of accidents or illness that could have been prevented or cured with basic health care far too many adult indians get lost in a sea of bureaucracy and fail to receive the preventive care now they're helping if it's they need and deserve we can and must do better and this legislative initiative will help federal and tribal help sessions deliver quality care to native americans of all and supports the recruitment and retention of doctors nurses for mrs now the health officials for indian health programs strengthens and expands health services to american indians the first time tribes will be allowed to use federal funds to provide hospice long term care home based and community based care for elders and other vulnerable tribal members and increase individual access to health services life the selling third facility third party reimbursement from private insurance medicaid medicare and other federal health benefit programs and expresses behavioral health needs of adults and children by authorizing programs to address suicide substance abuse sexual abuse domestic violence programs affecting some communities and households and it furth bipartisan cooperation that is seen from the beginning millions of our first americans await our action as quickly passed this bill and send it to the president for signature we must let our new countries need americans know that they're not forgotten that we will deliver them t care that they have this is going to be this is a very busy few weeks and a very important few weeks first we have to complete and in health bill then we'll have a debate on progress in iraq after the iraq debate will turn to the economy and homeownership and then annual budget debate when the two parties put their priorities on the table so in the midst of an extremely consequential presidential race the senate will debate some of the most important issues of the day including terrorism and the economy but the debate over pfizer the terrorist surveillance act should be over and bipartisan majority in the senate has already voted revise and extend our nation's foreign intelligence surveillance program a majority in the house we know that partisan majority supports the senate bill and the director of national intelligence says our ability to track terrorists was that got sixty eight votes here in the senate and it should do so without further delay two competing plans for moving america forward but it will be on vivid display over the next few weeks the two parties will make their case on the issues that matter most republicans are ready and eager for that of a new floor mr president i think the minority leader in the mcconnell for making that statement but i'd like to amend it i'd like to add something that he failed to hand and failed to advise the senate we offered to extend the terrorist surveillance law we said that there should be any gap in terms of the efforts of the united states to monitor these conversations and we made repeated efforts on the floor of the senate to extend the law and each and every time we offered to extend the law and abjection was heard from either sen mcconnell or another person on the republican side it appears that this is not about the security advantage of the united states in fighting terrorism but about some political advantage that if this law is appeared appears to la that they believe that they can make some political gains i hope i guess that's the only thing i can and i can deduce is the reason otherwise they would have extended this important law but the decision was made by the republican leadership not to extend the law i don't know why we tried we'll continue to try and we'll continue to try to work out an agreement between the house and senate to make certain that america safer now mr president i'd like to ask that the remarks some but they make be in a separate part in the record without objection so ordered present about sixty miles west of the city of chicago is the city of dekalb illinois and the calibers of town of great historic importance not only in our state but to our nation many years ago in dekalb they invented barbed wire sounds like a small matter but it turned out to be a major part of the settling of the western part of the united states that town grew up around the farms that provide it with not only produce but jobs and eventually gave birth to a great university northern illinois university in dekalb illinois last night i was at that university i went into the hall there the gathering that was called together to memorialize a terrible tragedy on february fourteenth as the senate was leaving washington we heard word that a shooter had come on campus going into a lecture hall opened fire wounding a score of students and killing five hard to imagine hard to imagine that that tragedy would take place at that great university today senator obama and i are introducing a resolution expressing our condolences in the condolences of the senate to all those affected by this tragedy if you've ever been to that campus under normal circumstances it is just the picture perfect american university campus on any day you're going to find thousands of students faculty and others in their classrooms and research labs on a flooded fields in the dorms eating pizza studying stuck in front of their computers going through the happiest moments of their lives i look back as many of us do on our college days and realize what a good time it was to meet all those wonderful new people to be challenged and learning so many important things and making friendships that last a lifetime but tragically for many of those students on the campus of northern illinois university on february fourteenth that atmosphere in that environment changed they were literally running for the exits of that lecture hall is this man stood before them firing repeatedly from handguns and shotguns killing their fellow students within minutes the campus police where there no one  question the response to this tragedy nor should they there was a good plan in place to deal with it they executed the plan but when they arrived it was too late students had already been shot and wounded five students died seventeen were wounded we mourn their loss that's interesting because in a circumstance like this we come to know the victims and their families carol stream illinois she was at the devout member of her church she sang in the church choir she worked as a camp counselor and volunteer in rural kentucky one of parents went to her dorm room after she had been killed they found the bible open on her bed her faith was very important to her life catalina garcia a cicero kno generation american her parents are from mexico she wanted to make them proud she was her family's princess her dad said and their inspiration she wanted to be a teacher she always had a smile on her face and if you saw the photograph that they used in most of the newspapers it was with a beautiful smile juliana god of mendota illinois what a great story spent twelve years of her life in the united states army serving overseas and serving the nation she was in the army reserves she used the g i bill and she went to northern illinois to become a teacher ryan m carpenters will a much loved only child was rarely without a smile and her dream was to be a counselor to help those in need and daniel parmenter of westchester kno danny a six foot five inch rugby player known as the gentle giant biologist friends he was a man who was sitting in that lecture hall next to his new girlfriend he was going to give her a silver necklace the day after the shooting never happened she escaped and he died trying to protect his girlfriend from the gun far fourteen beautiful lives ended in cold hall the lecture hall at northern illinois university last night at that gathering there were ten thousand ten thousand people filled this university center senator obama was there we had four members of our house delegation from illinois i was glad they came congressman don manzullo congressman peter roskam congresswoman melissa bean and congressman rahm emanuel the governor of our state was there many other state officials what struck me as touching was that as soon as we entered this hall it was to silence ten thousand people sitting in silence at this memorial tribute purrs were offered as they should be for the families of those who died and for the families of those who were wounded and are still recovering and they should not be forgotten we wish them a speedy recovery but we also committed the emergency responders the law enforcement officers the health care providers they were there and they did what they promised they would do everything they could to save lives and heal the wounded they were trained they were prepared and they responded with courage the toll from the shooting could've been worse if it wasn't for their efforts i want to also acknowledge president john peters of northern illinois university mean tired ministration the program last night was a beautiful program they organized but even more important was the work they've done since february fourteenth to bring that campus back together today classes resumed at northern illinois university lessons were being taught but last night we gather at the memorial service to reflect on the lessons of life that we've learned from february fourteenth first we thank all those across america who have joined us in expressing sympathy for our loss and solidarity a purpose for our future from the moment that news spread about this tragedy in dekalb illinois america has been standing with the northern on illinois university community this tragedy is a terrible reminder that we in congress have work to do to make our campuses and our country safer we need to do all that we can to make schools a safe place when you grew up you always thought schools the safest place you c now look what we face last april senator obama and i introduced campus safety legislation in response to the virginia tech shootings presiding officer certainly knows the pain and sorrow and grief that were associated with that tragedy key parts about legislation reach the president's will reach the president's desk soon as part of the higher education act i hope these new measures that senator obama and i are supporting will allow campuses and universities to think of ways to make those environments more safer for the students and everyone who visits in the future but we also need to take a look at to controversy all issues we need to take a look at gun violence there is an epidemic of gun violence in our nation we have reached the point in congress where we don't talk about it or if we do it's in hushed tones there fear feeling of an avid ability that there are three hundred million guns in america and there's nothing we can do about it we get tied up in political knots every time we discuss it about whether we're going to for an infringement fringing on constitutional rights or whether we're going for enough to spare innocent victims like these five college students in america we lose eighty one people every day to gun violence every year thirty thousand americans die from gun violence more than twice as many as die from hiv aids and that doesn't come up one hundred seventy six people who are wounded every day in this country by gunfire it's an epidemic proportion no matter where you are where you live how safe you think you are any of us could be among the dozens of victims each day who end up on the wrong side of a gun just a few months ago i was invited to speak at his at a memorial service for a little girl who was killed near logan square in chicago playing on a playground and got caught in the crossfire of gang violence the gang started shooting one another and this little girl was killed her mother could hardly stand she was sobbing uncontrollably days after the skirt as i went up to say a few words the minister leaned over to me and said don't bring up the gun control issue it's too controversy i reflected on that for a long time and i had i abided by his wishes of the family not to bring it up but it's an indication of the fact that we can't even talk about it we can't talk about reasonable ways so that the guns don't get in the hands of people who will misuse them the vast majority of people who own guns in america obtain them legally and use them legally and responsibly we should do everything we can to protect their rights under our law to continue to use guns in a safe and legal manner for  sporting purposes or self defense but we know even gun owners know there are people buying guns at this very minute who have an intent in mind of killing innocent people in this great nation we have to do a better job of keeping those guns out of the hands of those who would misuse them and the second issue is equally challenging it is the issue of mental illness it is ironic mr president that thirty years ago a young boy that i knew in my hometown of the st louis illinois i'd known since he was a two year old grew up graduated high school and went away to northern illinois university he was gone five weeks and he was sent home and we started asking why did we come back what happened we never got the full story until a few months later when gary went up to northern illinois university the first time in his life he exhibited problems with mental illness serious mental illness and they decided it was hidden his best interest for him to go home and he did he had a serious problem it unfortunately troubled him for his entire life before he died but it first exhibited itself at that college campus and that's not unusual many people who leave their homes for the first time the shelter and comfort of their home environment and head out to a new place a new campus for example a university in a dorm room have a problem that exhibits itself for the first time when we talk to those who are leaders of universities they say that they offer counseling they try to find the students who need help in times gone by in the worst case scenarios many of those students took their lives the suicide rate of college campuses is higher than most people talk about but now there's a new element was present i spoke to the president of a major university in illinois about this issue of mental illness among college population and he said in the years gone by that student would take his life and it was a tragedy for the school in the family but now there is a new era where that student buys a firearm and wants to take others with it this president said to me i don't understand it i don't know what's happened here i don't know if it's the the video games or movies or whatever it is but this idea that you'll shoot innocent people before you kill yourself as this gunman did at northern illinois university this is a challenge for all of us we have to first understand mental illness is an illness and that occurs it can be treated successfully in the vast majority of cases we need to pass the mental health parity bill so more people have health a mental health protection as part of their hospitalization plans we have to offer counseling for students and everyone who needs help do need a helping hand in this circumstance and we have to understand that the college a an especially important place to focus our resources we have to encourage students to move into those resources and get help we cannot penalize or signet stigmatize them for fear that they won't seek help but we also have to be protective of innocent people around them to understand that at some point you have to draw a line and say this person is now in an unstable or dangerous situation should never be allowed a firearm and needs to be at least monitored carefully if not some other action taken this is a difficult issue because for many years we didn't talk honestly and responsibly about mental health but we should the shooter of these innocent students at northern illinois university obviously was suffering from some form of mental illness i don't know if that could have been traced ahead of time or acted upon but we have to think about the future and what we can do after the shootings at northern illinois university a group parents whose children died at virginia tech wrote to the newly briefed students department newly bre parents at n i u to offer their support those parents are now joined together by a bond that no parent ever wants to share the letter from the virginia tech parents is posted on the web site of northern illinois university the question facing us now how much larger will we allow that circle of grief to become how many more support groups will be formed by those who lose someone they love in a school and on a campus we know that guns and mental illness are traversal issues but we also know that five of the finest young men and women you could ever ask for were taken from us on february fourteenth and there's any way we could have prevented their loss we need to find it in the days and weeks to come the victims of the shooting will be in our thoughts and prayers we stand in solidarity with the huskies of northern illinois university students faculty staff members the family as they mourn their losses and recover from this tragic incident is president i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate resolute resolution four fifty eight submitted earlier today for fifty eight expressing their condolences of the senate to those affected by the devastating shooting incident of february fourteenth two thousand and eight and northern illinois university to the measure with the objections ordered this president has canvassed consent the resolution be agreed to the preamble agreed to the motions reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and any statements related to the resolution be placed in the record at the were of the previous order the senate will resume consideration of s twelve hundred which the court will report on the number four twenty one after twelve hundred a bill to amend the indian health care improvement act to revise and extend that a mr president sir of north dakota is to present my understanding is that we have a cloture vote that will begin at five thirty this evening i know that senator de mint has two amendments that he intends to offer this evening and we will have we expect and votes on those amendments i have an opening statement that i want to use for a short period but i will defer on that by senator kyl wishes ten minutes to speak five minutes on the bail in five minutes i believe in morning business so i don't want to disadvantage is that my colleagues i do want to make some comments about the legislation we are finally at long long last go to pass an indian health care improvement act it's been eight long years it is long past due and by tomorrow midday we will have disposed of all of the amendments and having succeeded in invoking cloture will have finally done something that will give cause for a number of millions of americans to celebrate across this country the for the first time in a long long time a an improvement in the indian health and indian health care so mr president senator kyl has asked that  underlying indian health bill it's a member number thirty eight ninety seven offered by my friend from the state of oregon and it's an amendment which i hope my colleagues will reject this is an amendment which deals with the way in which monies are dispersed for health facility construction on indian reservations and for those of us who represent the majority of our native american population here in the united states this is a very very important  proposition because most of the construction is you could imagine are on the indian reservations in the southwest in particular arizona new mexico and to a lesser extent some of the other states it is wrong there or to try to change the formula by which the funding is allocated for construction of these facilities to a broader based around the country kind of formula rather than based upon the population which we're trying to serve and  as a result i think my colleagues should oppose this amendment now it is it is helpful that the amendment is not mandatory but rather provides that the secretary can use what's called an innovative approach a d distribute funding equally among the indian health care regions rather than target funding to areas where the health care services are needed the most but it still doesn't make sense to try to use this indian construction funding as as kind of a honey pot of money for everybody to share in equally when there are certain key areas that have the bulk of the needs based upon their population and i think that this priority based upon need is a much more sensible way to serve o that federal dollars will be appropriately allocated based on the greatest health care needs of the individual members of the tribes and therefore i urge my colleagues to oppose that amendment mr president the other matter that i want to take two minutes to address is a matter that was dealt with by my counterpart on the majority side a little while ago and that is legislation that we will presumably have to deal with again certainly the house of representatives will match the feis that were foreign intelligence surveillance act legislation i wanted to put a couple things in the record let me just explain what they are and then i'll ask unanimous consent to do that and then turn the floor over as you know the senate has passed this important feis lieschen the legislation enable us to continue to collect foreign intelligence on our terrorist enemies we're waiting for the house of representatives to act on that legislation so they can be sent to the president for his signature there's been some confusion mcconnell who's the director of national intelligence joined with the attorney general michael mukasey in writing a letter to the chairman of the house permanent select committee on intelligence dated february twenty second in which he addressed the significant concerns that we have given the fact that there is no current law that enables us to appropriately collect this intelligence and i'm going to ask unanimous consent that this letter be inserted in into the record in us present in addition to that the department of justice has issued a news release dated february twenty third that is titled a statement by the department of justice and the office of the directors of national intelligence regarding cooperation with private partners which press release makes it very clear that we are having a very difficult time in dealing with the telecommunications companies who are assisting the united states government in the absence of a law which properly provides for liability protection for them and sets out the ground rules for their intelligence collection and i would ask you to answer consent that which he made some points related to this and among other things he said we cannot do this mission we cannot do this activity without the help of the private sector upon private  upon expiration of the protect america act and i'm quoting him now the private sector partners said well wait a minute are we now protected so we went through a discussion for the entire week now this is the problem we may have the authority to conduct surveillance and we do of for example aliquot al qaeda but you can't make that actionable if you have something specific to load into our systems to target so when we wanted to load new information the private partner sectors a partner said we're not prepared to do that so we negotiated all week to be able to come closure on this present reform that he's making here is that we are in a situation right now of grave vulnerability  intelligence is not being collected because there's no law under which it can be collected and the private parties with whom we must work to collect that intelligence are in a position of great vulnerability because of a lack of liability protection as a result of which there can undoubtedly rise the question as to whether they will continue to be able to perform their service for us that's why we ask the house of representatives to take up the senate passed legislation and pass it as soon as possible to the president so that there's a vulnerab y of which the director has spoken and i will come to an end and we can resume our collection of intelligence on our terrorist enemies present there from north dakota mr president i will make a few comments and then sen consent will be recognized and he will have the time that he desires to speak about his two amendments that we will vote on this evening i want to just begin quickly by saying that we've had a lot of help to get this bill this senator reid first of all for allowing us to and being persistent to get this to the floor and keep it here senator kyl has worked closely with us senator mccaskill the ranking member has worked very hard to help me get this bill from our committee to the floor so senator kennedy and senator enzi and so many others who have worked with us to try to make a difference and there's legislation but let me describe why there's an urgency here we have a trust responsibility for indian health care that's different than other responsibilities a trust responsibility means that we took the land from the indigenous americans from the first americans we took their land but we signed treaties and said we tell you what we will give you a deal where is our responsibility to provide health care for you and that was interpreted much later as a trust responsibility now let me show you what we do on indian health care compared to other responsibilities that we have we actually this describes how much we spend per person on medicare veterans medicaid and so on we actually spend twice as much money to provide health care for federal prisoners those incarcerated in federal prisons as we do to meet our responsibility for health care for american indians we have a responsibility for both but we spend twice as much for federal prisoners health care as we do for american indians and it's not as if there's not a need american indians have a six hundred percent higher rate of tuberculosis five hundred ten percent higher rate of alcoholism diabetes is off the charts there are about one third of the doctors for indians versus other population about one fourth as many nurses or american indians as other populations the much much higher rate of sudden infant death syndrome cervical cancer nearly four times higher the rate of suicide among women indian teen just ten times higher than northern great plains it's a triple in the rest of the country i mean the statistics are endless we have a scale health care crisis now this bill in itself won't fix all that's wrong but it's the first time in eight years we're finally getting this bill reauthorized have been done eight years ago it's now being done and it's important i have described this bill through the lens of two girls one aged five the other age fourteen both dead let me describe them and their relatives and parents have allowed me to use their names so that we understand what this is about and what this urgency is first let me describe to shawn rain little light that's shown my colleagues a photograph of dishonoring little light a beautiful five year old indian girl from the crow reservation in montana to shawn rain little light died at the last three months of her life was in the unmedicated pain this school girl went to the indian health clinic again and again and again and again to be diagnosed as having a depression a condition of depression and she was treated for depression turns out she had terminal cancer finally rushed to billings montana and then rushed to denver colorado and diagnosed as having terminal cancer that was undiagnosed for many many months before when it may well have been able to be treated when they finally diagnosed this five year old girl who loved to dance the indian dances as having terminal cancer she asked her mama she could go to disney world and see santa rosa castle and make a wish allowed her to go to orlando florida to see cinderella's castle they got there and checked into a motel on that evening in her mother's arms to shine rain little light told her mother mommy i'm sorry i'm sick i'm going to try to be better and she died that night in a mother's arms never got to see cinderella's castle this little five year old girl deserved decent health treatment deserved a health system that would good for her what we would expect for our children a good diagnosis first class health treatment and she didn't get it and she's dead so is a this little wind avis was fourteen position for three months and somehow nobody mr no mental health treatment available nobody seemed to identify this little girl was in trouble and then she hung herself she  hopeless and helpless and took her life a fourteen year old girl is gone a five year old girl is gone but it's thousands and thousands of people suffering with a health care system that is not working it's not working the way we would expect it to for us or our families and it doesn't for native americans the first americans for whom we have a trust responsibility and to whom we made a promise that's why we must get this done of a cloture vote at five thirty we'll have two amendments this evening by senator de mint a couple of amendments tomorrow morning and final passage and there will be a celebration by people who have waited a long long time for the united states senate to move this legislation through the senate is present i know that my colleague senator man has been waiting of the chairman and the need to improve indian health care it's clear from the government accounting office study there's no doubt that an indian health is suffering and that there are many reforms that are desperately needed i'd like to talk about several of the memmott sui propose that we think will help the bill and one is related to what senator dorgan was just talking about and the fact that there's just not enough money currently to provide the health care that is needed for many indians across the country today and unlike a lot of other federal support for health care of the indian health provides one hundred percent coverage to all members of tribes across the country regardless of income level the problem that creates  time where we were offering new programs in reforms we're not offering enough money to actually support all the programs that are in this new bill and my  seven three which we call the indian gaming amendment would allocate scarce resources here to the poor tribes by excluding some of the richer tribes that benefit from class story or casino style gambling many of us no i mean we've we've looked at the statistics here that the the revenues from indian casino gambling have surpassed twelve billion dollars in many members of these tribes will receive income from these casinos from thirty thousand to over three hundred thousand dollars there are clear discrepancies in the end come in the tribes across the country and in designing indian healthcare reform it's important that we recognize that in two thousand and one there were two hundred ninety indian casinos across twenty eight states that brought in more than twelve and a half billion die alors with more than five billion dollars in profit and to put this in context the average family in south carolina makes around fifty thousand a year in these families sometimes on their own sometimes through their employers have to pay and help pay for their health care and many times  income in the tribes that have casino gambling is generally much higher than that and yet we are providing free health care for these tribes this amendment would exclude from the new programs in the underlying bill would exclude those tribes with casino gambling class three gambling which would take the money that's provided in the bill and allocate it to the poor tribes which uses just basic common sense if we have a limited amount of money to go around less target those tribes with the greatest poverty in the greatest need and allow those tribes with the highest incomes to participate in purchasing their own health care that is a member number forty seventy three and we will vote on that amendment today and am as president let me address another amendment that will be voted on today and that is a member number forty seven which recognizes that some of the programs in the bill that are designed for injury prevention or safety have actually been used in the past by government agencies to promote anti firearms programs gun bag buyback programs or programs that generally stigmatize the ownership of guns for collecting or hunting or sell defense this amendment provides that none of the funds in the bill may be used to fund any firearm programs gun buyback programs or programs aimed at discouraging or stigmatizing the private ownership of firearms for collecting hunting or self defense that's basically the language in the bill and we know from programs that we've looked at before we have legislation for instance that we passed that would prohibit the center for disease control from doing exactly the same thing is using money that's supposed to be used for safety programs or other injury prevention and actually use it to promote a political agenda which is anti second amendment agenda this is another mehmet that we will vote on today so two amendments that will be voting on today after the cloture  motion is voting on is the indian gaming amendment that would exclude those tribes that have the revenue from casinos as well as the other amendment which would prohibit funds from being used to stigmatize the ownership of guns now mr president like to dress another amendment which is pending on this bill is what we call the health savings account choice what this would do is simply make another choice available to indians in the purchase of their health care right now they have most of the options that we have here at the federal level and our federal employees plan but they do not yet have a health savings account option which we have added to our federal programs this simply would allow indians the same choice that we have they could purchase a p p o or other plans managed care h m o or with this amendment they could also have a health savings account with a high deductible plan so i would encourage my colleagues to support this i'm actually working with the the chairman on the possibility that this amendment could could be accepted in a void a vote on it tomorrow otherwise will be voting on it tomorrow before final passage now mr president i'd like to just make a few comments on a second degree amendment that i added to one of these amendments the week before we left last week which we call the semper fi amendment this is amendment this not germane and will fall after cloture but still deserves some comment the semper fi amendment is named  honor of the marine motto which means always faithful and it's in the bill which i enter duce after the berkeley california city council voted to refer to our marines as unwelcome intruders and i had proposed that they leave town that their recruiting office actually leave town when i heard of this it just me at least angered and we developed this bill which would simply take away about two million dollars of wasteful federal earmarks which were not voted on in the senate or the house but were  added as what we call report language we're not trying to take away all their federal funding but simply to say if they are not going to respect our marines or their mission which part of it is recruiting and certainly they should not be the beneficiary of taxpayer funded earmarks there's certainly those that aren't necessary when i first introduces bill it was more of just to make a point and maybe rattle the cages of the city because i know that all the people in berkeley don't feel this way if anyone looked at the video and it was one of the most watched videos on you too you could see person after person stepping up in maligning our marines in the job that they are doing not only in iraq but throughout history referred to them as murderers and thugs unthink things being said about the the same marines that provided them to freedom their freedom of speech some of said by me introducing this bill that i'm against freedom of speech and that's not at all in fact the anti american group code pink had been demonstrating for months in front of the marine recruitment office there in berkeley and i have no problem with that they have every right but they wanted more than freedom of speech they wanted the power of the local government behind them to give them an advantage over those who supported the moraines supported their mission and supported our country so city council voted to give code pink a free parking place in front murmuring recruitment office also voted to give them a permit to use a bullhorn a megaphone to shell out down any who would want to come into that recruitment office that's not free speech that's government sponsored political agenda that took the side of a few liberal demonstrators against the traditional americans and the marines who have fought for our freedom of speech mema got a fair amount of attention and a number of a lot of supporters here in the senate which i appreciate the same bill is also enter introduced in the house by a number of republicans i've been surprised at the response that we've got literally thousands of phone calls and e mails and letters what this is exposed to me is this is not just a single event but it's really exposed  lou not only of our marines but everyone serving in uniform and their families and i've heard it when i've been in iraq more than once when i ask our soldiers our marine or airman what they need in the responses has often been just don't forget us in the letters and e mails i've gotten have indicated the same thing that finally saw or standing up for those who are fighting for our freedoms i was surprised by the response i've gotten letters at home from mothers who sent me pictures of their marines thanking those of us who have stood up for their marines and i really agonize over the fact that they need someone to stand up for them but when i go back and see what was said in this these chambers and the house chambers and what  does governments like the city of berkeley have done it should come as no surprise to us that there are doubts in the minds of those who put on the uniform that we support them that we believe in what they do and that we support their constitutional mission to recruit and to talk about what we offer in our services people americans are really concerned about this th act we have tried to get on the floor just for an up or down vote which we have not been able to do we tried to pass that unanimous consent which got one hundred percent republican support was blocked on the democrat side i added it to an amendment to this bill just to try to get a vote but it will fall after we vote for cloture but i promise the marines and all those in uniform that i'm going to continue to persist until we get a vote on this because it's not just about this amendment it's not just about those of us who support it it's about letting those who put on the uniform and are willing to fight for our freedoms know that we stand behind them and when any government at any level takes a position against them then it is our responsibility here in the congress to stand up for those marines and those fighting men and women and not to allow them to be taken advantage of and intimidated and bullied by some local government like we saw from berkeley i've been happy to see that some local governments across the country of actually pass resolutions and support of the marine recruiters and i have i would appreciate any across this country who stand up and make a statement on behalf of those who are fighting for our freedom again i want to emphasize that anyone who wants to speak out in protest against brain recruiters against the  iraqi war or anything is their free right but when government whether it's a local government or a state government takes a position against our federal constitutional amendment to defend this country which requires the recruitment of marines and soldiers and airmen and coast guard that's part of our job and it's not freedom of speech when a local government takes a position against what we are charged to do here at the federal level and i want to encourage all those parents all those in uniform that there are the majority of those here in the senate and in the house and across this country that respect and appreciate what you're doing every day i just got back from iraq last week and two days on the ground and i know aspect for all of my colleagues when i've never prouder of my country and what i do here we're there when i stand with those in uniform who are sacrificing many times more than a year away from their family several tabs second and third tours they're fighting for us and we need to stand up for them and i'm going to continue to persist until my colleagues give me a chance to stand  seven minutes without objection the senator from wyoming mr president thank the senator from alaska and rise in support of renewing in reinvigorating the indian health care programs for too long we've been blessed with their duty to review this program and ensure that it continues to efficiently deliver high quality health care as part of that effort in the last congress senator mccain  murkowski introduced comprehensive legislation that would do just that and i'm pleased that a great portion of the bill we're discussing today includes provisions of that build which was asked forty one twenty two in crafting that legislation last congress we kept in mind the eighty twenty rule as was working between the health education labor and pensions committee and the indian affairs committee and we used this eighty twenty eighty twenty rule eighty percent rule which is eighty percent of the time we're going to agree on a top and it's only twenty percent of the time that we disagree so to gain broad support we focused on that eighty percent to ensure that it was a strong bipartisan piece of legislation it is a piece that's long overdue this should have been reauthorized years ago it leaves out some important things that are necessary for the tribes in administering indian health of human a few weeks ago i did mention a few remaining concerns that i had with the underlying indian health care bill and thankfully due to the work of many in this chamber and particularly senator dorgan and sundered rakowski i no longer have concerns with the underlying legislation the improvements to the bill required minimal language changes but they do have huge policy implications i'm glad we were able to better clarify the scope of federal liability coverage by doing so we no longer imply that the federal government could be telling americans how to practice their own religious beliefs for this and the issue of urban indians we were able to find a third way a middle ground on the appropriate role for providing services to urban indians i'm also pleased to hear that the two least outstanding that at least two outstanding issues within the finance committee's title of this bill have also been resolved and i want to thank senator kyl for all his efforts in the area to create better medicaid co pays and better citizenship documentation i realize that others may not see these compromises as the perfect solution however they are moving us in the right direction on these key topics and as i remind people around here a lot there is no such thing as a perfect piece of legislation the eighty percent that this bill contains will solve immense problems for tribes throughout the united states it will move health care forward for all that are involved and it will make a huge difference it's past due we still can work on other issues that are outstanding that you hear mentioned around the chamber in the debate but this piece of legislation needs to pass it needs to pass now it should have passed a year and a half ago we almost passed it at the end of that session until we got the scoring and the scoring used the wrong bill they did not use the bill that senator mccain and i and said they were gassed and senator dorgan put together they used a different bill and the cost came in extremely high and it would under that bill it wasn't this bill it wasn't what we had worked on it has taken us another year and a half to get to the point where we can pass a bill that will solve the problems for the tribe and keep this program moving forward in a very positive way so i'm glad we'll be able to pass this legislation out of the senate and i look forward to working with others to get this bill signed into law mr president i yield the floor senator from alaska president i appreciate the comments of my colleagues from wyoming speaking to my sense of the the urgency of where we are  recognition that we've been working on this legislation the indian health care improvement act in its reauthorization is manchin should have passed a year and a half ago where we were been working on it for a good ten years and it's been a collaborative effort from many leaders in and senate senator mccain has been mentioned as the former chairman of the in a serious committee prior to two kids chairing that committee it was senator ben nighthorse campbell that was leading the effort to to move forward with this very important reauthorization which president had the opportunity to to go home to alaska over this past recess and the busy busy recess for me as it was for i know many of my colleagues i had an opportunity to visit gallina which is asked back in the indian village on the yukon river i was in fairbanks and seward and anchorage in my hometown of a good when i had a chance to visit with seven or eight alaska natives who are training under the dental aid and dental health aide therapists program in anchorage this is a very unique partnership with the university of washington school of medicine what we're doing in alaska now is training alaska native  in this mid level profession the dental health aid therapists to to go out and provide for the dental health needs of so many in our rural communities in our villages around the state where they simply do not have any level of of of dental health care i'm not talking about a dentist that comes every other week and saying we don't have a dentist every other year practically in some of these villages so what we're doing is providing a training opportunity  that is that is unique to alaska and is is very very welcomed so even though it's it's tough to leave home to come back here to to work it's good to be back here knowing that we are working on the indian health care improvement act working to finish up this is very very important legislation and we've had many of our colleagues speak on the floor about the challenges of develop delivering quality health care to america's native people and the funding environment that all have have admitted is inadequate to support those needs those challenges aren't limited to just the lack of funding they also include the lack of of trained personnel who are willing to live in some of the most remote places in which indian health care is delivered that's one side of the coin but there's also the very real innovation that is going on within the indian health care delivery system and as i listened to the debate that went on this on the senate floor in the past several weeks it dawned on me a lot of focus a lot of attention on on some of the the inadequacies but that we really did not spend any time during that debate to recognize the people the tribal leaders the health care professionals who are unwilling to let the lack of funding stand in the way of excellence in health care delivery and so as we move to conclude our debate on this very important piece of legislation for the health of our native people i want to take just a few minutes this evening to focus on some of the ways that in my home state our native later is an art indian health care professionals have partnered to overcome what seem to be insurmountable obstacles in their quest for excellence and my my focus now on examples from alaska is not intended to imply that we're not seeing innovation in indian healthcare delivery in other places of indian country but i've i've chosen to speak about these programs because i know them and i believe them i believe in them in the state of alaska we've got native people who have lived in more than two hundred traditional villages along the rivers and the coasts for thousands years and  natives continue to occupy those villages today but these are places many of them are places where where doctors and nurses and physicians assistants are the period where they don't live and they won't live but that doesn't mean that alaska's native people lack access to basic medical care if one gets sick or injured in a native village which may be hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital you need to know that you're not alone and in in our state we've faced up to the challenge of providing access to medical care in very remote places by training native people to serve as community health aide practitioners this is a program that originated structured training program was created to train native people residing in the villages to function as the the eyes the ears the hands of medical personnel that that may be hundreds of miles away at one point in time this link between the village health aide and the doctor in the regional hospital with carried out by a single sideband radio similar to what the ham operators use then later it was carried out by telephone subsequently email now we've got a state of the art telemedicine backbone that connects the health aides and their supervising physician alaska's community health a practitioner program which was first recognised and funded by congress in  eight is forty years old this year it's earned the respect of the medical profession and has tremendously improved the health condition of alaska's native people i mentioned earlier i had a chance to view those  young people that are currently in the dental health a therapist program this is an extension of this concept to improve the oral health condition of native people who live in places where the dentist may visit once a year if they visit at all are just a few examples from my state of the kind of innovation that we have seen going on in indian health care delivery first time i want to give you a more recent example in mrs south central foundation's patient centered primary care initiative the initiative was trans air has transformed the quality of healthcare delivered to native people residing in a service area of one hundred fifty thousand square miles within south central alaska south central foundation is the tribal health provider which delivers health care under a self governance compact with the i h s our c e o of south central foundation is katherine got you she was the first alaskan ever to win the macarthur foundation genius award and she won that award for the patient centered primary care initiative that i'll describe for you the initiative itself has been discussed in professional journals ranging from the journal of the american medical association to family practice magazine published by the american association of family physicians it's the subject of a case study published by the institute for healthcare improvement in boston which which is one of our nation's foremost think tank on health care quality one hundred seventy seven when south central foundation began to take over primary care delivery from the chest the average delay to schedule a routine appointment ranged from four weeks to several months but no show rate was about twenty five percent for appointments and patients really didn't have any idea who their primary care provider was hundred ninety south central dacian embarked on a massive effort to redesign the system today patients are guaranteed same day access to their own primary care provider if they call by a certain point in the afternoon they get to choose their own primary care provider and they get to change their provider if they don't like the one that they've chosen use of the emergency room and urgent care for primary care is down fifty percent used to specialists down fifty percent wait times have decreased across the system customer satisfaction ninety one percent of customers rate their overall care favorably that's pretty impressive staff satisfaction has improved immeasurably this is a system where you have members of the medical team the doctors the nurses the physicians assistants there are technicians and they all come together they all rely on one another everyone is expected to work at the highest level allowed by their professional license  and what we saw with the transformation of south central foundation was it wasn't just throwing more money at the problem it was achieved by changing the values of the system from a staff centered system to a patient centered system they basically went from kind of a big impersonal crank and through the process plays and these are the words of the medical director doug e to a customer owned and directed system which operates in accordance with native values not necessarily bureaucratic principles and that transformation began with the decision of native leaders to exercise their rights of self governance under the provisions of the indian self determination and education assistance act these self governance provisions allow tribes to take over the responsibility for the delivery of health care from the federal government and the bill that's before us today the in in health care improvement act will provide self governance providers like south central foundation with the tools and the flexibilities that they need to further expand these innovations we know that the the bill at twelve hundred was not written in an ivory tower was written primarily by indian health care providers and tribal leaders who know the challenges that we face in improving health conditions of our native people the leaders of our alaskan native health care delivery system were key players in the process of formulating this legislation and for me it is truly an honor and a privilege to be able to give voice to their ideas here in the senate it is my sincere hope that our colleagues today will vote to bring the debate on this important legislation to a close the process as has been mentioned of drafting this legislation began back in one thousand nine hundred ninety it's moved through the  affairs committee in so many different years i've mentioned under the leadership of senator nighthorse campbell senator mccain senator thomas before his death senator dorgan so many who have put so much time and effort into this very very important legislation it's long time that the congress modernize the legislation which governs the indian health care delivery system in a way that promotes just exactly this type of innovation that i have just spoken to that we're seeing in alaska it's long time that we give our indian health providers the tools that they need in their quest for excellence i thank the president i do i do anticipate that we will move this legislation to final passage it is something that as i speak to my constituents back home and as we talk about those issues that are most important to them so much seems to come back to to to health care and how we are providing health care whether in the state of alaska or around the nation after passage of the union house here improvement act is long overdue and i look forward to two thing the day that the president will be enabled able to enact these changes into law that mr president  mr president the us consented the vote following the first vote vote the ten minute votes i believe without action two minutes equally divided to explain the amendments without objection mr president let me while i'm waiting for some colleagues explain that the legislation the indian health care improvement act does a number of things we've talked about the urgency for it but it expands cancer screenings for example it expands the monitoring and prevention programs for communicable and infectious diseases expands recruitment and scholarship programs for those nurses and doctors and serve american indians it seeks to address the epidemic of teenage suicides and s reservations it enhances that expands the current diabetes screening efforts it addresses or try so address the shortage of health care professionals provides for home and community based hospice and also authorizes convenient care services authorizes programs to address domestic violence and sexual abuse in short it's a piece of legislation that attempts to modernize a piece of legislation the indian health care improvement i should say the indian health care system that has been waiting to be reauthorized now for eight years so this is a piece of legislation that i think is going to make a difference in the lives of americans who have expected and have been promised good health care and have for a long long time not received in this present while we are waiting for some colleagues i think there are a couple of colleagues that wish to come and speak prior to five thirty i'm going to ask consent to speak for three minutes and morning business without objection is to present tomorrow we have a hearing before the energy committee that deals with the issue of strategic petroleum reserve it's called spro strategic petroleum reserve we've created a strategic petroleum reserve to put oil underground or save for a time when it is in our national security interests that we might need it on an emergency basis so you'd have some that is saved and be able to take it out of the the underground caverns and use it so we have a strategic petroleum reserve it is now ninety seven percent filled ninety seven percent filled on average all of the bear also went into the strategic petroleum reserve went in at about a twenty seven dollars a barrel price yet right now and oil is one hundred dollars a barrel and gasoline prices are going through the roof we're putting fifty to sixty thousand barrels a day underground in that strategic petroleum reserve that is ninety seven percent full are we doing that well our government is getting royalty payments in kind that is off of the gulf of mexico on the drilling and the production that occurs there we're receiving in kind of oil in lieu of money so rather than put that all in the supply system and get the money ford reduce the federal deficit what we're doing is we're sticking that money underground in a hole at a time when oil is one hundred dollars a barrel and gas is three three and a half dollars a gallon we're taken fifty or sixty thousand barrels a day and sticking it underground is somebody missing a few tubes here i don't understand it to them in the wiring must be wrong and people who think that's the right thing to do this is exactly the wrong time to be staking or oil underground what else one hundred dollars a barrel and yet i