in the hundred ninth congress passed by vote with four hundred six last year we merely ran out of time in conference that's why i'm very glad the bill was passed out of committee and brought to the floor in a timely manner we just cannot afford to let the time run out on the bill in this congress and the last twenty years environmental protection has become a primary core mission our water resources provide a variety of functions simultaneously they provide transportation protection for flood an appropriate habitat for species similarly when it comes to corps projects navigational and flood control projects can and should be environmentally sound environmental restoration can help prevent or minimize flooding during the next major storm etc the corps leading some of the world's largest ecosystem restoration projects and the commanding feature of this bill is it's a landmark environmental and ecosystem restoration effort already more than half of the bill consists of authorisation for environmental restoration projects think of all the major waterways that are important to america to our environmental heritage to recreation and to commerce this bill effects all among the projects this bill restore wetlands in the upper connecticut river basin environment and new hampshire restore habitat in the chesapeake bay restore our fisheries in the great lakes implement an environmental management program for the rio grande river to continue restoration of the florida adding everglades restore areas of coastal louisiana damaged by hurricanes katrina and r restore habitat on the upper mississippi illinois waterway systems restore oyster habitat on long island sound now flood control obviously is important if we learned anything about mother nature in the last fifteen years it's that we very often need protection from or storms hurricanes katrina and rita obviously are devastating examples the good news is that corps projects have prevented an estimated seven hundred  six billion dollars in flood damage within the past twenty five years we're going to investment of one seventh that amount during the ninety three flood alone an estimated one thousand point one billion in flood damage was prevented by flood control place at the time the legislation authorizes flood control projects in california louisiana new georgia new jersey new york pennsylvania maryland west virginia minnesota kentucky south carolina idaho washington missouri illinois iowa new mexico and arkansas just to name a few transportation efficiency is another benefit by the move majority this legislation is for environmental protection and restoration a key bipartisan economic initiative we include provides transportation efficiency and environmental sustainability on the mississippi and i revert as a role becomes more competitive america must also from nine hundred seventy to two thousand and three the value of u s trade increased twenty four fold and seventy percent since ninety four an average annual growth rate over ten percent we can expect demand for u s exports dramatically to increase over many years we must ask ourselves for that part of our trade our exports that are come out of these will there be growth in transportation in the next twenty to fifty years to accommodate the growth in demand for commercial transportation now if you listen the department of transportation they're already predicting that congestion on our roads will double and then next quarter of a century and from where i sit capacity on the rails is at the maximum and a lot tougher to build a new railroad then it is to maintain the locks on an existing waterway system if you think that our roads are congested now what would happen if we cannot relieve the pressure on our highways water transportation is the un tapped our inadequately tap capacity and it's good news because water transportation is efficient it saves the conserve fuel and it protects the air in the environment one medium sized barge tow can carry the same amount of freight is eight hundred seventy trucks that fact alone speaks volumes to the benefits of water transport where the prices at a record seventy two dollars per barrel consider the advantage of a twin engine barge that can they carry the equivalent of eight hundred seventy trucks over the past thirty five years waterborne commerce on the upper mississippi as river has more than triple it currently carries sixty percent of our nation's corn exports forty five percent of our nation's soybean export it does so at two thirds the cost of rail when and if realities of there are available in missouri long we ship thirty four point seven million tons of commodities with a combined value more than four billion dollars and it isn't just agricultural products it includes coal petroleum aggregates grain chemicals iron steel minerals fertilizers and other commodities now the sad fact is our navigable waterways are an environmental and economic decline the locks fog functionally obsolete despite increased man these locks were built seventy five years ago with a life expectancy of fifty years and if you look at the locks when they're locking through a tow they don't just sleep they shed tons of water they are past the stage where continued application of chewing gum and duct tape are going to protect the water transportation infrastructure that we need so this bill is a plan that gets the corps back in the business of building for the future rather than just haggling about predicting it the legislation contains authorization for funding to improve navigation on a number of our waterways in several states louisiana texas alaska virginia delaware maine oklahoma in south carolina and i my interest is a key piece of the bill modernizes locks and dams on the upper mississippi in illinois rivers we authorize capacity on locke's twenty to twenty five on the missouri river and peoria grange on the all annoying new twelve hundred foot locks on the mississippi w provide equal capacity in the bottleneck region downstream that existing twelve hundred foot locks on the north and the south and kika and st louis provide what happens when you have a six hundred foot lock as would not exist today although modern toes are twelve hundred feet long so you have to double lock through them put half the barges in lock them down bring the water back up for sure other half the barges in lock them down well that is a tremendous bottleneck and even those six hundred foot locks are in very degraded condition half the cost of the new locks will be paid by private users who pay in the inland waterways trust funds additional funds will be provided for mitigation small scale and non struck measures to improve efficiency now lots of talk about around here about we want to increase trade and all of the farmers in the reproductive farmers  commercial family farms in missouri know that trade is essential not only for their well being but for the strength of the economy to bring revenue and to rural communities in the rest of the world but we can't have those without the basic transportation infrastructure necessary to move goods from buyers to sellers new efficiency helps give our producers an edge that can make or break opportunities in the international marketplace as we look fifty years in the future we have to ask ourselves a fundamental question should we have a system that promotes growth or should we become confined to a transportation straitjacket design for twenty fifth not for twenty fifty  hundred fifty or earlier with paddlewheel boats for until we can ask ourselves if dramatic investments should be made to address environmental problems and opportunities that exist on these great waterways in both cases the answer me and i hope a majority of this body must meet of course we should modernize and improve seventy years ago some argue that a transportation system on the mississippi river was not justified but congress bravely stepped forward decided so we're not to try to predict the future but to shape the future and decide to invest in a system despite the naysayers over eighty four million tons per year later it's clearly a decision was wise couple years ago veteran ch of at the u s d a talking about transportation efficiency and the ability of farmers to win mark markets and higher prices he said that transportation is fundamentally would relating it predicted th corn exports should rise over the next ten years by forty five seventy percent of that will travel down the mississippi river now this decision to improve the waterways has not been taken lightly all decisions have been documented in coordinated with an interagency federal principals group independent technical reviews and stakeholders and have been available for public review and comment the corps of engineers spent seventy million dollars completing anticipated six years study that actually took fourteen fourteen years to complete and was only three times over budget during that period there been no less than thirty five meetings the governors committees twenty eight meetings of the economic coordinating committee among the states and a minimum of forty four meetings the navigation environmental coronation committee i dish really a bit over one hundred thirty briefings for a special interest group twenty five newsletters at least six sets of public meetings in forty six locations with over four thousand people in attendance now there are some who say we ought to study it some more give me a break to say the least this is been a very very old song transparent and representative process and while we have been studying our competitors have been building one of the saddest sites i've seen recently is a picture of exports from norman's rather than exploiting american farm commodities you know if they're exploiting  and towboats that couldn't operate efficiently on the existing lock system to brazil and other areas so they could go down and have modern transportation means that will eat our lunch both literally and  figuratively given the extraordinary delay so far and given the reality that large scales construction takes not weeks or months but decades further delay is no longer an option that's why i'm very pleased to join the bipartisan group of senators agree that we must improve efficiency and environmental sustainability of our great resources transportation efficiency provisions are supported by a broad based group of states farm group shippers laborers and those who pay taxes  for their strong bipartisan support as well as for the budget for some this bill is too small for others it's too big and it's important to understand the budget implications of this legislation the real world w are contending with difficult budget realities it's critical that we be mindful of those realities as we make investments in the infrastructure that supports those who manufacture and grow and buy and sell things so we can expand our economy create jobs secure our future and pay the taxes that our government needs to continue providing support for the infrastructure this is just an authorization bill that does not spend one dollar not one dollar it makes projects eligible within budget constraints with the allocation provided the appropriations committee and the congress and and the president will fund projects to be deemed to be of the highest priority the remaining will not be funded because of budget issues there's word a process simply allows for projects to be considered during the process of appropriations some will measure up some will not although the ones in this bill have gone through rigorous examination to get this for far i believe we strike a balance here the disciplines the new projects to criteria fairly applied while a dead addressing a great number of water resource priorities and mr president i will submit and ask to be  included in the in the record a letter of support from the national waterways alliance who support is endorsed by a hundred eighty four related businesses for the record without objection and i also will  my statement for the record that lists the length the number of organizations farm groups labor organizations transportation groups and others but  my thanks to the p w committee its leadership its staff and staff there subcommittees on transportation and infrastructure for their hard work and commitment to bring word to the floor in a timely manner and again particularly thank chair boxer ranking member inhofe for their forbearance i look forward to debate and final passage i thank the chair i yield the floor and i suggest an absence of a court clerk  of our colleagues have come forward and i particularly want to say the senate fine go thank you for coming and debating with me who's the amendments on prioritization we're going to have a vote on that  if all goes well on tuesday but that's not finalized but it looks like that's what's going to happen i would say to call the fact that we did have a good fair debate  far today and we're going to continue this tomorrow we're going to continue this on monday and i would hope that those of you who have not come forward with your amendments would be so kind as to do that you don't have or in many cases we did take care of so many issues between both sides of this committee but if you have amendments we really urge you to please come forward and talk about those amendments in this way going to have much time as you want and then we can hopefully get this bill done we keep adding to the letters of support i just was handed a letter by the national association of manufacturers in favor of this bill and ask unanimous consent to include that in the record  you know it's one of these rare moments in history where we have the manufacturers association the labor unions we have the farmers we have the corn growers we have the water people we just have a huge amount of support for this spell it's one of those times that everybody's coming together setting aside other matters other issues that are so terribly contentious like iraq which just tears at our heart strings wherever we are in it and  know other other tough matters that we deal with every day this is one the time that does bring us together i'm happy to say because without our physical infrastructure of this country in good shape we can't move goods we can't we can't move people and we can't move services so we need all of that in this bill and seven years old so we're very pleased more also pleased and i'm going making unanimous consent request amanat were also very very pleased that this bill complied with the spirit of the ethics reform mr president that we we passed here at the very early days of the session and although that ethics bill hasn't yet become law we suspect that  well this committee on both sides decided that we wanted to comply with it so we got letters from colleagues stating whether or not they had any type of perceived conflict of interest or conflict of interest in the bill in relation to be projects that are in there now the disclosure chart that i submitted early today requires a correction and we'd like to we're going to make that correction today and resubmit the new absence of the court will call the r and my capacity as a senator from minnesota i ask consent that the quorum call be terminated without objection so ordered the senate will receive a message from the president of the united states that  you know i said madam secretary i'm directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the senate a message in writing the message will be received and the message will be appropriately referred troubled that so much time has passed and so little has been done when a great nation like the united states declares a genocide in some part of the world i think we have a moral responsibility to do something imagined transport yourself back in time to the genocides that have occurred in the past i imagine a declaration by the united states of a genocide involving jewish people and others during the holocaust of world war two imagine that we had recognized that was going on and announced that our government knew it was going on and ask yourself if we had done nothing at that point having made the announcement what it says about the united states president bush and his administration have done the right thing in declaring a genocide in darfur the president a few weeks ago gave a speech in which he he really said we have to go beyond this declaration to do something and yet it hasn't happened i want to give the president and the secretary general of the united nations adequate time to respond in a way that will save lives but as we wait and negotiate and think about it people suffer millions remain displaced unable to return home humanitarian assistance coming into door for continues to hang by a thread can be snapped at any moment by escalating violence or chaos in the region there were several developments this past week that reflect the turmoil and complexity of the dar for situation the shareholders of bircher hathaway in omaha nebraska at their annual meeting rejected a proposed that would have required this giant investment firm to sell its investment in petro china large oil company in the sudan owned by the chinese petro china is a subsidiary of the chinese government to china it's a chinese government firm known as the china national petroleum corporation it's the largest company operating in the sudan drilling and exploring much of china's own berkshire hathaway is the largest independent shareholder in petro china in america the second development was the release of a new report by amnesty international detailing the transfer of arms the sudanese government many of these arms have been supplied by russia and china another thing happened this week china announced that it will send a unit of military engine ears to assist the african union  peacekeeping mission in daraa for i'd like to speak for a moment about these three developments first the vote of bircher have to have a way was a disappointment warren buffett is my friend i respect him very much i think he's one of the nicest people i've ever met and certainly one of america's great business leaders i look used to look forward when i own one share of his class b stock for his annual report i thought it was probably the most honest analysis of business and business decisions that one can read in the course of a year in america i'd hope that when the shareholders came together in omaha they would decide to make an issue of this ownership of petro china the los angeles times last friday detailed birchers investments in petro china are particularly challenging for the gates foundation berkshire chairman warman oren buffett has pledged thirty one billion dollars that's thirty one billion dollars worth of berkshire stock as a donation to the gates foundation that is an amazingly generous donation to an organization that is doing life changing work at the war for the world's poor and suffering according to the l a times in its own investments gates foundation also currently holds about twenty two million dollars in f operating in sudan the benefit the sudanese government a gates foundation spokesperson stated that quote bill and melinda gates have initiated a process to assess the asset trust investments in sudan and of quote these numbers really illustrate the complexity of the situation when even mammoth foundations that do enormous good work across the world have to take an honest look at their own investments each of us i believe should do the same it isn't an easy process subsidiaries may be hidden from open view and it's difficult to know what exactly lies beneath the mutual fund statements that we might receive my mutual fund statements same and certainly have far fewer pages than mr buffett's or mr gates and i still wrestle with how to ensure that my investments do not include funds related in some way to companies operating in sudan i'm trying to make this process honest but easier for all americans the second development i mentioned that took place this week was the release of a new report by amnesty international report states in two thousand and five the most recent year for which data is available sudan imported twenty four million dollars worth of arms and ammunition from the people's republic of china as well as nearly fifty seven million dollars worth of parts and aircraft equipment and two million dollars worth of parts of helicopters and airplanes from china during a meeting in beijing the defense minister of china reportedly told sudan's joint chiefs of staff that military relations had been developing smoothly and said quote we are willing to further develop military cooperation between our two countries in all areas a chinese company recently delivered six k eight military training attack aircraft to the sudanese air force and a further six will follow suit according to a military magazine and just international is concerned that the sudan air force is highly likely to use these newly acquired jets as it has other aircraft for indiscriminate attacks in door four in violation of the u n arms embargo and international humanitarian law this report from amnesty international details the ways in which the sudanese government violates the united nations arms embargo and disguises some of its military operations in dar for it offers a number of recommendations to close loopholes in the arms embargo and better to better monitor the flow of goods into sudan report also calls on states to immediately suspend the transfer of all weapons and munitions and military equipment and dual use equipment likely to be used in the commission of human rights violations and or for the report concludes that a global arms trade treaty is needed to prevent the flow of arms from fueling such catastrophic conflicts in the future we must see what we can do to prevent future disasters like the one playing out in dar for finally i'd like to mention the third develop in the wake the chinese foreign ministry announced to the press and in a letter to members of congress that it was sending a unit of military engineers to participate in the peacekeeping operation enduring for and assist the african union this units expected number perhaps three hundred engineers it is  welcome gesture china has taken other positive steps as well such as when it helped convince khartoum to greed to the deployment of three thousand un peacekeepers those steps must be juxtaposed however against some realities china helping sudanese president bashir build a new presidential palace against china investing billions of dollars in the sudanese oil industry against china reportedly transferring arms to sudan and seeking expanded military cooperation and against china's opposition to same sions against sudan the international community has to do more to stop the killing in darfur china has to do more and so we as americans as a nation on april eighteenth president bush stated in his speech at the holocaust museum that sudan had a short time to end its obstructionism and accept a full scale peacekeeping mission or face serious consequences i applauded that statement i've spoken to the president personally about this statement and told him that i believe those were words that were important for the world to hear i understand the president bush did not impose a new sanctions on that day because he wanted to give the secretary general of the united nations several weeks to seek a diplomatic solution man a president a short period of time is coming to a close i'm ready to work with the president my colleagues here congress to find new tools to bring to bear in order to stop the violence and terror for along with several colleagues i am preparing introduce legislation to provide some of those additional tools in this effort the most effective policy instruments will be multilateral meaning many nations involved in achieving this goal but in the meantime the united states must say we cannot let more months pass while people continue to suffer i hope that by next week the president of the united states will of reached a conclusion that the secretary general has had his opportunity that the united nations may not be able to broker some diplomatic resolution to this and i hope that time the president of the united states and i w to will make a decision that we should step out in terms of sanctions against the sudanese government what's at stake here two hundred to four hundred thousand innocent people who were killed then women children  villages were destroyed or homes were destroyed children were killed in front of them terrible atrocities against humanity over two million people displaced forced to trudge across the desert to try to stay on lived to make it to a refugee camp because the government of their country in sudan has frankly ignored the obvious that the john jaweed militia and other forces are killing their own people that is clearly a genocide and it's a situation which we can no longer tolerate i hope that we can find bipartisan bipartisan support for decisive action i thought that we can say to the chinese yes we applaud your sending three hundred engineers into this region that's as large as the state of texas yes we applaud the public statements you've made encouraging the sudanese to accept the u n peacekeeping force but the chinese can and must do more china is the biggest customer in the world for sudanese all if the chinese make it clear that they are not going to continue their relationship with sudan unless something is done and in this genocide it can make a big difference i think it's important they do these things and certainly to condemn violence on one hand and then sell the arms and ammunition to the sudanese which are being used against their own people is to places it is not consistent and the chinese should think long and hard about whether or not they can do serve both roles and try to convince the world that they're doing something meaningful in the meantime i think we need to do a divestment strategy and i think it's time for the united states first to change the last of that state local governments can make decisions to divest in mutual funds and investment funds that relate to companies doing business in sudan right now the courts of stop that kind of divestment we can change that law and i have pending legislation to do that we need to have our own policy in this country to really put pressure on the sudanese to accept u n peacekeepers not american soldiers but u n peacekeepers that will come to the rescue of these poor people who are suffering and are for then president this is  situation which really calls on the united states to keep its word when the president announced a genocide or for he reminded us of what happened in rwanda under the previous administration and the wind of a genocide occurred which claimed as many as eight hundred thousand innocent lives the administration at that time under president clinton was warned of took no action would not declare genocide as a consequence the massacre occurred we know it could have been averted with very very few soldiers maybe even as few as five thousand soldiers supplementing the u n peacekeeping force could have saved eight hundred thousand lives it is unimaginable that we did not respond or at least help others to respond president clinton reflecting on this is said it's one of the real disappointments and failures in foreign policy during the term the terms of he served as president let's not repeat that mistake i've urged president bush with a year and a half left in his term and so many other things that he has to consider to remember a promise that he made when he announced the genocide in darfur he said not on my watch well mr president your watch is drawing to a close and you have a chance you have the power unlike any other person in the world to make a difference and are four if the secretary of the general of the united states of the united nations will not respond in a timely way we must respond some may argue that it might fail maybe we will succeed but at least we will have tried i remember i always think when we come to these discussions about this kind of challenge about one of my favorite movies schindler's list and at the end of schindler's list or schindler if you'll remember was a businessman who started off with the goal of making money and then decided that he had a bigger goal in life and that was to save his the jewish people as he could by declaring that they were workers and employees in his plant he managed to save so many lives at the end of the movie there was this graphic scene where the workers the war was over in the workers were finally freed and they wanted to show their gratitude to mr schindler and so what they did was they asked the workers to give up the gold fillings in their teeth and they knocked out the gold fillings in their teeth and they melted it into  rain that they gave him as a gift for saving their lives there was this touching scene at the end of the movie where liam nielson who was liam neeson who was playing the role of oscar schindler was standing by this his car about to leave the factory and they presented him with this ring and he broke down in his words are unforgettable he said i should have done more i should have done more i think about that when the context of d for when it's all over in history is written i don't want to have to stand here ask any senators stand here and say i should have done more we need to do something and we need to do it now if it is not successful in ending the genocide or for at least we can say we've given it our best effort but today we can't say that we haven't done nearly as much as we should or could do to help the suffering people when the history is written that will perhaps applaud our declaration of genocide but there won't be much applause for the little action that is followed it's not too late madam president i yield the floor and suggest the absence  be discharged from further consideration of senate concurrent resolution twenty nine and that the senate then proceed to its consideration the clerk will report of congress twenty nine encouraging the recognition of the baseball league and their players on may twentieth of each year without objection the senate committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure madam president i ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to the amendment to the preamble which is that the deaf to be agreed to the preamble as amended agreed to the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table that any statements relating they are to appear at the appropriate place in the record as if read without objection so ordered madam president i ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee american occupational safety and health week and may ninth two thousand and seven as occupational safety and health professional day without objection the senate will proceed to the measure madam president  consent that the resolution be agreed to the preamble agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and that any statements relating there to appear at the appropriate place in the record as if read without objection so ordered john carlo minetti without objection the senate will proceed the measure i ask unanimous consent that the resolution resolution be agreed to the preamble be agreed to the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and that any statements relating to the resolution appear at this point in the record without objection so ordered unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed the senate resolution one eighty one eight zero the clerk will report as red as one eighty recognizing seventieth anniversary of the idaho potato commission and designating may two thousand and seven in idaho potato month without objection the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure i have i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to the preamble be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table without objection so ordered madam president i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today its standard journey until nine thirty a m friday may eleventh but on a friday following the prayer and pledge the journal of proceedings be approved today the morning hour be deemed expired and the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day that there would then be a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak their read for up to ten minutes each without objection so ordered if there is no further business to come before the senate today i now ask that the senate stand adjourned under the previous order the senate standard during intel nine thirty tomorrow morning today in the senate a vote to limit debate on a bill to authorize seventeen billion dollars in army corps of engineers water projects next week the senate expects to take up immigration legislation live coverage of the u s senate always on c span two tonight c span three history looks at immigration first historical perspective on immigration and the history of the immigration crisis later we hear from arizona governor janet napolitano and house republican leaders that's tonight starting at eight p eastern on c span three now it's c span dot org order your c span two thousand and seven congressional directory inside house and senate member biographies as well as information on committees and caucus maps and the latest information on governor's cabinet member supreme court justices and more order your c span two thousand and seven congressional directory it's only sixty ninety five online at c span dot org or by phone at one eight seven seven on c span a group of moderate house republicans met with president bush and his top advisers this week they informed him that they are continuing so horded his iraq war policy could seriously damage them and other members of the party in two thousand and eight and that their support would last only until the fall if there isn't significant progress in iraq today's capitol news dot org a poll of the day asked should republicans continue to support president bush on the iraq war log on to cast your vote and see real time results now education secretary margaret spellings and senator jeff bingaman of new mexico speaking on high school dropouts according to the group's civic enterprises one million high school students drop out every year this event was part of a day long summit on the subject and it runs fifty minutes great privilege today to hear from so many different levels and so many different perspectives of expertise from our students to our educators to our experts to our elected officials both at the local and state level and now as david mentioned at the federal level so without further ado let me introduce to you if i may the education secretary margaret spelling you have a how are you and the junior senator from the great state of new mexico jeff  bingaman what we'll do is we will hear from both of our speakers and then we will open the question up to you and i will steer the questions around accordingly margaret spellings was this this is i think in the job description  obsessed with the question how are we going to ensure that every child has the knowledge the skills the access the expertise to complete an education and to compete in the twenty first century and a globally competitive economy where as we said earlier you're not just competing town to town state to state but literally globally as secretary of education she's leading the administration's effort both to reauthorize the no child left behind law and to pass the american competitiveness initiative to strengthen math and science instruction she is as you know a strong advocate for changes at the core of the summit which is among other things better information and more accountability more rigorous coursework and with the appropriate supports and infrastructure to truly ensure that forget the name of the bill forget the name of the law or the bumper sticker that no child is left behind in this country is my great pleasure to welcome secretary of education margaret spell are john and i had the opportunity to work together at the white house where he served as my deputy for a while and i told him on top of everything i know about education and he obviously has taken it and run with it so congratulations john on a job well done here thank you i know stephanie stanford is here and thank you for their leadership of the national governors association time and m t v i thank all of them and like david broder i'm a big i'm high on governors also when i do think they are a critical important part particularly leaders like the ones you heard from as well i want to make a special acknowledgment to my co presented today senator jeff bingaman i recently visited his wonderful and beautiful state and i thought first hand the fruits of your labors on education senator you've had a big impact on em like those of us in texas there is a great collegiality and a commitment to work together across party lines and across various sectors to make improvements there i also appreciate your appreciate very much your recent leadership in the america competes that which has a lot of the stuff already in it and along with senator burr and canada he had they have introduced the graduation promise act which is a really  great step as well next week i will travel to little rock arkansas where fifty years ago nine african american teenagers brave violence or ridicule and prejudice to claim their right to a quality education they represented the and of a long long hard struggle to gain equal access to classrooms and today the struggle is about what's going on inside the classroom and the stakes we know are just as high despite our best efforts there are still vast inequities within our education system and especially in our high schools i would say in too many of our cities the reality faced by the and low income kids is shocking as you've heard fifteen percent of our high schools produce more than half of our drop out of these dropout factories a majority of the students trapped in them are often minority students and their high school experience vastly different from what most kids encounter they go to schools or trash literacy the floor graffiti defaces the walls for most freshman answer on able to read or do math at an eighth grade level and were graduation is a fifty fifty shot or worse in one hundred sixty three when president john f kennedy decried the fact that four out of ten fifth graders did not finish high school and think about how the world has changed since nine hundred sixty three he called it a waste we cannot afford forty four years later the dropout rate for african american hispanic and native american students approaches fifty percent so not only have we wasted time but we are wasting lives we are wasting human talent and potential by tw majority of our population will be african american and spent that hispanic and we must turn around these dropout factories we must ensure that the same opportunities available to kids in the suburbs are available to kids in our cities if we don't we will most certainly become a poorer more divided nation of have and have not today a quality education is more important than ever and solving our drop out crisis the silent epidemic as you all call it is not just a moral imperative it is an economic necessity for individuals and for our country the united states has the most severe income gap between high school graduates and drop out of any in the world the days when you could or a good living off the sweat of your brow are disappearing in industries and ranging from manufacturing to micro processing a high school diploma is a bare minimum for success yet every year nearly a million kids fail to graduate high school with their peers it's hard to believe that such a pervasive problem has remained in the shadows for so long and that some part do i believe it to state reporting systems and data collection have matched the severity of the situation for example in some districts a student who leaves school is c drop out only if he or she registered as a dropout that's unlikely and a dropout to promise to get a ged and an unspecified future date is good enough to merit graduate status with such loose definitions of what it means to be a high school graduate it's no wonder that this epidemic has been so silent but fortunately today it's beginning to be a different story all fifty governors have agreed to adopt a common more rigorous graduation right measure the silent epidemic reports my department's graduation right report all contain more accurate real time measures of state and district graduation right data it's helping us shine a light on the magnitude of this crisis and as i like to say what gets measured gets done gets attended to thanks to the efforts and leadership of many people in this room we're finally moving from a state of denial to a state of acknowledgement and action solving the problem or is time magazine calls that stopping the exodus will take all of us and i believe the federal government has a critical role to play and this administration is already moving forward with policies to help ensure every child is given a chance to graduate and that their diploma is a ticket to success not just a certificate of attendance we've all been talking about this problem and the reauthorization of no child left behind gives us the perfect opportunity to act it's clear high school students need high expectations challenging courses that prepare are and engage them excellent teachers and extra time to catch up if they fall behind our policy blueprint for no child left behind reauthorization includes several key proposals to help meet these needs and address this dropout crisis head on first we would increase title one spending by more than a billion dollars to improve and strengthen the public high schools serving low income students clapping for these and targeted resources  bring more equity to the system something that desperately needed if we're going to have any hope of transforming dropout factories to flora shing high schools we also propose increasing funds for reading  that teachers can help struggling students get back on track before it's too late as a silent epidemic report found the number one reason cited by high school dropouts for their decision was that they simply didn't feel challenged they were disaffected disengaged and that something we must change as significant portion of our n c l b reauthorization calls for increased rigor and relevant at our high schools by strengthening math and science instruction calling on business and higher education officials to work with state to better align curriculum to meet workforce and college expectations creating an adjunct teacher cor that will bring math and science professionals in the the classroom to share their expertise and experience and to serve as role models when i was with senate and senator bingaman state of new mexico i visited a local high school where scientists from one of our great labs sandia labs were teaching chemistry and we need to make this notion more common all across our country we're also calling for and again an area where the senator has been a huge leader for the expansion of advanced placement and international baccalaureate club classes we know that rigorous course for is one of the best ways to improve student achievement studies show that just taking one or two advanced placement courses increases a student's chance of going to college and they're all odds of graduating in four years yet nearly forty percent of our nation's high schools don't offer any a p classes and many of these schools of course serve are low income and minority students there's something wrong when right here in the washington d c area suburban langley high school in fairfax county offers twenty four a p courses which is a great fantastic we're proud of that while inner city anacostia high school offers only four we must do everything we can to encourage our students to pursue this more rigorous curriculum and make sure it is available to every child who wants to take advantage of these opportunities we're also working with state and local educational and of these to increase the rigor of career and technical education programs to ensure that all students receive challenging academic standards and are better prepared for high wage high skilled jobs in current or emerging professions finally we propose to build on the governor's call for a more accurate graduation rate by two thousand and twelve we would require all states to decide aggregate this data by race and ethnicity so we can clearly see who is dropping out and report it as part of accountability plan we must states and schools accountable for their dropout rate and provide them with the resources to improve with out accountability and high expectations for every state and every student or just posting the numbers and hoping for the best we've tried that strategy our children there are better than that and while the problem before us is daunting indeed i have great hope and encouragement that together will solve it because there's so much good work that is already going on and you've heard about some of that today i see it in classrooms all over the country where dedicated teachers with a no excuses attitude are determined to help kids succeed i see it when i visit my friend school chancellor joel klein in new york and witness his animated strategies that are transforming schools there at a recent visit to harlem with president bush we saw that inspirational work being done by educators who in spite of tough circumstances are helping students achieve i see it on capitol hill where efforts such as senator bingaman are putting high school reform at the top of the list where leaders like charlie  rangle himself a former dropout who was with us in harlem are making it a personal mission to keep other youngsters in school and i see it here were some of our best the country's best thinkers and dedicated leaders and philanthropist have come together united in a commitment to solve this crisis this is origin work too many americans are being left behind at a time when it has never  important to have an education we all know that education is the key to our continued competitiveness and essential to our democracy it is indeed the new civil