senate will now come to order the chaplain dr barry black will lead the senate in prayer us pray eternal lord god creator of the summer and winter teach us to appreciate light seasons made the snow and ice that surround us today remind us of our dependence on you and life's sunshine and shadows sustain our senators during this national season of challenge and uncertainty teach them that the one who designed the seasons can order their steps and direct their destinies meet their deepest needs with your great power and love strengthened their resolve to press on in their efforts to do your will as they grapple with complex issues and give them the peace of knowing that you are already working on solutions help them never to forget that you alone are the source of security peace and hope throughout the seasons of our years we post cloture then all that time will expire at eight fifty two this evening or in morning business will resume consideration of the funding resolution i've had discussions with republican leader about other matters which we might consider prior to joining for the f this hundred us congress when it came here democrats and republicans alike had a real problem because the last congress only funded the government until february fifteenth and with cooperation between democrats and republicans difficult negotiations took place that was a situation where senators cochran and byrd who lead us appropriations committee over here working with chairman already on the other side of the capitol together with all ranking members and all chairs of the subcommittees on both sides worked through these difficult issues and they were difficult we had not enough money to do all the things necessary to be done but we got it done without a single earmark i know this was difficult are issues on this madam president that are so troubling i spoke to them there's a there's a senator on the other side of the aisle giant isaacson from georgia i don't know how you could find a nicer person in the world and johnny senior senator from texas she has an issue dealing with brac that has bipartisan support their bases that we've legislated closure communities are having difficult times as a result these base closures doing all the things needed to be done and we promised them money to allow these closures to go forward without as much  and real hardship really but it was anything we could do if we had a single amendment on this bill that had to go back for conference and as a result of that it would mean very likely we could complete this by tomorrow night at midnight i have i have made commitments to a number of people that we're going to take care of these things in the supplemental which should be here to the last week in march and i'm going to do everything i can to make sure the process on this supplemental is has all been in and free as people think it should be and i will be as patient as we can be to work our way through yes i've told the distinguished republican leader that that that vehicle will the all the until menace so that a president but we i think we've done very very good work legislation is the art of compromise consensus building and i appreciate very much  the republicans supporting this there were some who didn't and i understand that and i understand why and what we did yesterday and invoking cloture on this bill is a step forward for allowing us to get the countr financial affairs in order i have talked to senator byrd i've spoken sooner cochran i've spoken to distinguish republican leader we're going to do our very utmost this year to get appropriation bills time on and we're going to be able to do that now that  r is going to be out of the way they are today early on or off we can't work anything out when the time expires tonight so again i want to express my appreciation publicly to everyone that worked this matter there are people who voted against the bill the were in part of the process of working things out i've spent time on this madam president with the senior senator from new mexico i've spent a lot of time with him he and i did that energy and water subcommittee for many many years as chairman ranking member went back and forth he didn't get everything he wanted but he got quite a bit and i we're not going to through the whole roll hall of others that we worked on to words on a different subject mr president madam president first of all yes five seven fours at the desk and two for second reading the clicquot report and five seventy four a bill to express the sense of congress on iraq mr madam president i would object any further proceedings in respect of the stuff the objection is carried out of president and i'm pleased to be joined by senators hatch i think you would find very very few people whose life has not been touched by breast cancer in some way we've all had our lives i should say everybody but most everybody's had a real scare their daughter or wife mammogram doesn't go right have to have a biopsy sometimes surgery to find out whether it is  cancer others have found that the biopsy and the initial surgery prior to finding determine if breast cancer is bad news and there must be a treatment for this  so men are present this legislation is really on behalf of on behalf of millions of americans whose life or touch my breast cancer i urge all my senate colleagues to support this important legislation approxim three million women are living with the disease today clearing an estimated one million who have not yet been diagnosed moreover anyones and as i've said mother daughter wife sister friend is at risk it is thought that breast cancer will strike one in eight american women with a new case diagnosed every two minutes this means almost two hundred seventy five thousand new cases are expected be diagnosed annually one of those women sally lost her life after her own battle against breast cancer she was an activist i met with her talked to her although the losses most painfully felt by her loved ones her life and legacy remind each of us that there are real people behind the impersonal facts and figures breast cancer is a devastating disease it truly affects families communities and the entire country it forces victims and families to ask difficult questions like why me what's next where can i find hope the breast cancer environmental research act will help find answers to these questions and addition of the breast cancer environmental research act and also interesting another building day hearing with residents physicians shortages this bill will expand the number of medicare supported physicians training positions in states all over the country which faces shortage of doctors the legislation is important because we know that cities where doctors are trained are often cities where they stay for example nevada currently has one hundred ninety nine physicians in training and i will be eligible for additional ninety three positions under this bill as that it continues to grow so do our health needs to build have introduced today will help ensure communities across nevada doctors have that they have the doctors they need the quality care they deserve i  friends for taking so much time and that a person i thank you as five seventy four will be placed on the calendar under the previous order the leadership time is reserved under the previous order there will be a period for the transaction of morning up to one hour at three fifteen p m today for one hour without objection not to exceed the one hour time that objection so order to present the senator from texas is recognized as a present as senator from colorado be recognized following my remarks without objection so ordered that a president on monday the distinguished majority leader took to the floor and vote moaned the state of our economy calling our economic future bleak and as surprised as i was by those comments i thought it was even more important to come down to the floor and to respond and to provide i think much different picture than that depicted by the distinguished majority leader it's ironic that the same day that those comments were made the associated press reported in the washington  newspaper a story that leads with this with this paragraph the depth of for the first four months of the current budget year is down sharply from the same period a year ago as the government continues to benefit from record levels of tax collections the treasury department reported monday that the deficit for the budget year big that began october first was down fifty seven point two percent from the same period a year ago that same article goes on to say the continued strong growth in revenues reflects the record profits that have been written made in recent years and the low levels of unemployment which means that more americans are working and paying taxes well madam president if this is bleak economic news i would hate to see love to see what good economic news might look like i have here a few charts that i think provide a more accurate picture of exactly what where we stand in terms of the american economy today this first chart here demonstrates that for twenty one executive consecutive quarters we have seen the u s economy grow including the latest quarter here reflected of three and a half percent down from a high of one quarter growth three months of seven and a half percent we have seen since this same time period from roughly two thousand and three that employment expanded actually this is over forty one consecutive months creating seven point four million new jobs in america this ranges from september two thousand and three until december six just this last year this time frame is not accidental and that i'm president in august of two thousand three we passed some of the tax relief which i believe is largely responsible for creating the american worker a greater incentive to work hard and to save their money and invested in their small business thus creating jobs and opportunity for more americans and this is created the sort of freedom that is always demonstrated in the strength of condominium but it is as a result of not government action per se but rather the freedom that we have given the economy and the hardworking american taxpayer to keep more of what they are earning and creating an incentive for them to work hard and be able to earn more to support their family and their way of life the third chart i would put up here that demonstrates economic picture is not as the distinguished but jordie leader said bleak demonstrates that revenues from the to the federal treasury have exceeded all historical precedent and this last projection is that two thousand and seven that will see it up to eighteen and a half percent and they will see you can see above this line here which represents historical averages that each of the following years leading up to two thousand and twelve will exceed that historical average again madam president the economy is stronger than ever and continues to grow because of our current low tax and pro growth policies unfortunately this is a lesson that washington sometimes forgets because when given the opportunity the instinct i think of washington is to increase federal revenue by increasing taxes but i don't think you need to know very much about human nature to know that my taxes decreased the incentive that we all have to work hard and what that does is actually has a wet blanket effect on the economy and on the ability of small businesses and employers to create jobs which create the kind of economic growth and the kind of revenue that our tax system generates as a result of strong economic activity i'm worried that even with the current congressional continuing resolution that's on the floor now which cuts three point one billion dollars from defense spending at a time when we're trying to bring our troops home from europe and asia and to provide them a place to come home to that the solution offered by the distinguished chairman of the appropriations committee is don't worry we will add that money back in when we get to the supplemental appropriation bill the problem with that madam president is that the three point one billion dollars that has been spent out of the current continuing resolution or bill on things other than our military that now the addition that that money has now been spent on other programs that are favored by the new majority and what they're saying is here instead of spending three point one billion dollars we'll spend six point two billion dollars the three point one on things other than defense but we know what will come back later and make the defense budget whole but in a way that aggravates the budget deficit and of course the consequence of that kind of of that kind of spending policy which has a tendency to aggravate the deficit been just lays the groundwork for our colleagues on the other side to say you know what the american people are not taxed enough we need to actually raise taxes in order to generate more revenue to pay for this additional spending and this is exactly the kind of response that we do not need because as demonstrated by these charts as demonstrated by the booming economy that we have as a result of the low tax policy and pro drove policies of the last six years the american economy could not be stronger or better so i hope madam president that that we will all be edified by this factual data that is demonstrated here on these charts and that the misimpression that the majority leader is under what he called the economy bleak will be now disabuse i hope that he will see from from these charts and from my comments not because i said it but because this is what the facts demonstrates is a low tax and program policies we've had over the last six years have served the american people very well and the seven point one million new jobs have been created in america and that indeed should be what we are all about you before president the senator from idaho  recognized that a president the senator from colorado is going to speak a good deal longer but he has agreed that i could kind of interject myself but for a moment and so i appreciate that and i'm president today is a special day in my life it's not just valentine's day it happens to be the anniversary of the first date i had with my wife suzanne and my romantic well maybe just a little bit little did i know then that one day we would be celebrating the first date as a married couple with three children and nine grandchildren over the years i've taken to the floor of the senate to announce the news of our growing family and i ask my colleagues indulgence again today to send a special valentine to the two most recent happy additions to our family born november twentieth of zero for a beautiful granddaughter named lily for race occurring on april eighteenth of zero six of another beautiful grandchild daymond all over craig was born into our family it's a thrill to be a granddad to these wonderful children it has been a great joy to hold them to love them to see them around and to watch them grow i wife suzanne and i look forward to many happy experiences with lily and damon and the rest of our crew often we come to the floor of the senate to talk about momentous and meaningful of events but probably there is no more important event and when grandchildren enter our l thank my colleagues let me thank my colleague from colorado for letting me share with all of you how much we enjoy these new lives in our family on this valentine's day i yield the floor the very best and the family that you have obviously united was the roots as it is for most of us here our families are so important to follow my appreciate you coming to the floor and sharing that special valentine message not only with your family but also with the nation and with our colleagues madam president i come to the floor today to speak about the forgotten america and that's about the rural america which is the wide expanse of the geographic area of these united states and when i came to the united states senate two years ago i came to this floor and gave a maiden speech about the forgotten america the world parts of our country which really have been in decline decade after decade after decade and i did so because if you look at my own history i come from a place that three hundred miles to the south of denver a place that has the name of clinical and english meaning rabbit county and it is one of the four poorest counties in the united states of america and madam president in that county like in so many counties across america you see the kinds of problems that really you describe the two americas that we have you have the america of prosperity much of that part of america lying with the metropolitan areas of our great nation and you have the other america the forgotten america the america that struggles on the line every day to just stay alive the part of america that has great disparity in from the kind of health care in the kind of education and the kind of economic opportunity that exists for them in my own state of colorado there are sixty four counties and out of the fifty four counties of an even in the great boom of the one nine hundred ninety s when employment was unemployment was not existence and our economy was growing at a very rapid pay most of those counties were withering on the line they were declining  population their population was aging they were struggling with health care they were struggling with a whole host of issues that affect all of those communities out of the sixty four counties in colorado during the period of two thousand t thousand and five twenty one of them twenty one of them actually decline in population so that's a third of my state that was actually declining a population of madam president the fact is that that state things that system can apply to many other places will be able to put together a farm bill that will help us revitalize rural america and they will help us put the spotlight on has been the forgotten america and even as we start the process of moving forward and addressing the issues that are set forth in the te titles of the farm bill we already see some statistics that to all of us should be alarming hearing that we had earlier this week there was testimony that was provided to us that the per capita investment in rural america is about five hundred fifty dollars less than it is in urban community and that's because of poor mueller's that we have for community development block grants and other kinds of investments that the federal government makes to help community help community ends up in a very disappointing way affecting rural communities and these negative ways so i'm hopeful that as we move forward with the farm bill that will be able to correct some of the disparities and create new opportunities for rural america and we'll see one of those opportunities created with our efforts to grow our way to energy independence the fact of the matter is that both democrats and republicans progressives and conservatives are coming together to recognize the pact the growing our way to energy independence is a matter of national security it's a matter of economic security and it's a matter of environmental security so i am tremendously optimistic about what we can do with with the new farm bill today i want to speak briefly about two pieces of legislation that  have introduced or will be soon be introducing that are part of that agenda to try to help a real america first of those is a bipartisan legislation that will create a rural policing institute that is legislation which i am proudly sponsoring with senator pryor my good friend and former attorney general from arkansas and senator chambliss and senator isaacson this legislation would create a rural policing institute to make sure that our law enforcement  the similar kinds of opportunities that law enforcement has in the major metropolitan areas in my own state of colorado we have about fourteen thousand people but there's i had the great honor of the attorney general that they serve of the chairman of the board that certify all the law enforcement officers  my state were period of six years i can tell you there's a big difference between the kind of training that rural law enforcement officers get and the kind of training that is provided to law enforcement officers in the metropolitan community of the fourteen thousand people officers in colorado seven thousand of them work in departments that have fewer than fifteen officers and they can't afford the kind of training to protect themselves and to protect the public safety that other larger metropolitan police organizations can and therefore madam president our effort to move forward with this role policing institute is to allow our national government to provide training opportunities to the thousands upon thousands of police officers who support of the united states senate and i'm hopeful that we will again have that same kind of support the second legislation that i am introducing has to do with education we know that rural school districts have a very hard time in terms of retaining teachers the national teacher turnover the national teacher of turnover across the country is about fifteen percent but in rural districts it's as high as thirty to forty percent thirty to forty percent of teachers and rural school districts are turning over and so what i hope to do with the colorado colorado teacher retention act is to help with a competitive state program that would allow rural school  districts bonuses for highly qualified teachers who commit to teaching in rural schools for at least three years it would simply provide an opportunity for rural schools to have the kind of excellence and teaching that they  rock value of the what america is all about that the pioneering spirit of the last is the place where the food security of our of our nation so so depends upon you walk into my office madam president for many years i have had on my death find that says no farms no food no farms no food and i would hope that as we make that statement as i make that statement that we recognize that we should never compromise the food security of the united states of america we obviously have done that in a very  negative and disastrous way with respect to our energy dependence on foreign countries the day we ought not to do the same thing with food security and our ability to revitalize world america and to an active part a bill that will senate's in a very active morning business up till about one p m eastern when they will resume consideration of a chair as twenty the continuing resolution funding those government programs to the end of the current fiscal year two thousand and seven and a report this morning's congressional quarterly indicates a vote on final passage is expected later in the day on the other side of capitol hill in the house they continue debate on their iraq resolution the only one hundred members have spoken on the house floor they're given a minimum of five minutes each to speak the debate continues throughout friday on the house floor by the way you can go to our website c span dot org if you'd like to see how your congressman congressman or representative spoke on the house floor go to c span dot org and look at featured links there at the top of the home page and a lot of house coverage of course on c span waiting here in the u s senate for morning business to come to an end resumption of debate on h j razzed twenty the continuing resolution which provides funding for most government programs through the end of the current fiscal year that debate set to begin at one o'clock eastern four to resume at that time congressional quarterly reporting this morning that a vote on passage is expected later in the day