S10304 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 1, 2008 

social worker stated that she immediately noted a glistening in the eye of 

the foster mother who replied, ‘‘Is that 

really what you want, Christopher?’’ 

Christopher responded that was very 

much his desire. The adoption of Christopher was finalized in January 2008 

with Christopher changing his name to 

‘‘Kantrell.’’ Kantrell has continued to 

thrive in his adoptive home and is a delight to all who know him. 

Each year, 79,000 children and youth 

who exit foster care leave without a 

permanent home or belonging to a family. I could stand here every day for the 

next month and talk about each child 

who needs to be adopted out of foster 

care. The bottom line is that each of 

these children, from 1 day old to 22 

years old, needs permanency. They all 

need a loving, nurturing family that 

will help them to grow, bring out their 

unique personalities, and transform 

them into confident and happy adults. 

On National Adoption Day, I have 

faith that we can be the catalyst to securing a permanent loving family for 

every child. The miracle of adoption 

cannot be explained, but the loving 

parents who are holding their children 

for the first time today are living examples of how dreams can be realized. 

As an adoptive mother myself, I find 

that words cannot adequately explain 

the miracle of adoption. I can only 

take a moment to offer my most humble thanks, gratitude, and appreciation 

to all those across the Nation who have 

given their Saturday to help find waiting children safe and loving homes. 

Let us continue to remember that 

when National Adoption Month and 

Day end there are still thousands of 

children who need that sense of permanency. I challenge Congress to make 

these children their first priority and 

not another statistic to be studied. 

Please join us in supporting National 

Adoption Day and National Adoption 

Month by participating in events held 

across the country celebrating this 

most joyous, hopeful act. 

f 

HIGHER EDUCATION LOANS 

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, this 

past August the President signed into 

law the Higher Education Opportunity 

Act which reauthorized programs for 

postsecondary and higher education. 

Contained within the reauthorization 

is the Education Disaster and Emergency Relief Loan Program. The bill 

established a loan program within the 

U.S. Department of Education to provide critically needed low-interest 

guaranteed loans to institutions in the 

event of catastrophic natural or manmade disasters. 

The colleges and universities in Louisiana, particularly those in the New 

Orleans area, remain in many ways financially crippled by Hurricane 

Katrina. Three years after Katrina and 

Rita devastated Louisiana and Mississippi these institutions still have 

nearly $700 million in unrecovered 

losses. The estimates for Gustav and 

Ike are still not finalized, but at this 

stage the damage is purported to be at 

least $46 million to State colleges and 

universities alone. 

Before Katrina, the 11 colleges and 

universities in the New Orleans area 

educated 70,000 students. Today, that 

number is only 50,000, but it continues 

to slowly rebound. This growth comes 

despite the fact that our institutions of 

higher education experienced more 

than $1 billion in physical damages and 

operational losses due to the 2005 hurricanes and have recovered less than half 

of those losses. Higher education institutions are the largest employers in 

New Orleans both before and after 

Katrina. The higher education industry 

in New Orleans continues to attract 

millions of research dollars and supports industries as diverse as biotechnology, aerospace, and medicine. 

The work of each institution in the 

city can be seen in every aspect of the 

region’s recovery, from the redesign of 

the city’s troubled public schools to 

coastal restoration and hurricane protection to the provision of health care 

across the region. They engage in this 

important work even as they continue 

to struggle with mounting revenue 

losses, buildings that remain in disrepair due to flooding, and the loss of 

key faculty and staff. 

I call today on the Secretary of Education to make the Education Disaster 

Loan Program a top regulatory priority. It is my understanding that 

some Department of Education officials have said that they will not promulgate regulations on any newly created programs in the Higher Education 

Act until funds are appropriated. This 

simply is not acceptable. This issue has 

become a major roadblock in the current disaster funding process, and it is 

my hope that the Secretary and the 

Department will move expeditiously to 

establish regulations so that the program may provide crucial assistance to 

the colleges and universities impacted 

by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, 

Ike, and the Midwest floods. 

f 

PRIVACY PROTECTIONS—S. 2321 

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am 

pleased to announce that, today, after 

several discussions, the Bush administration and lead sponsors of the E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2008, 

S. 2321, have accepted an amendment I 

have drafted to ensure that Americans’ 

privacy comes first when the Government purchases and uses their most 

sensitive personal information. My 

amendment requires that Federal agencies must conduct privacy impact assessments before employing outside 

contractors that use and market Americans’ sensitive personal data. 

The addition of privacy protections 

to the E-Government Reauthorization 

Act will help to better protect all 

Americans from the growing threats of 

data breaches, identity theft, and other 

cyber crimes. I am particularly pleased 

about the compromise reached today 

because I am a proud supporter of this 

bill. In 2002, I was an original cosponsor 

of E-Government Act, and in the intervening years, I have worked to promote 

and strengthen this law. 

The E-Government Reauthorization 

Act is a good bill that will now be even 

better because of the privacy protections added by my amendment. Recently, the Government Accountability 

Office released a report on lessons 

learned about the Government data 

breaches at the Veterans’ Administration and elsewhere. That report found 

that Government contractor responsibilities for preventing and responding 

to data breaches should be clearly defined. My amendment takes a small 

but important step toward addressing 

the growing problem of lax data security by Government contractors by 

making sure that Americans’ privacy 

rights are not compromised when they 

entrust their sensitive personal information to our Government. 

I thank the lead sponsors of this bill 

for working with me on compromise 

privacy language for this bill. I also 

thank the many stakeholders who support this bill and my privacy amendment, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, Symantec, and 

the Cyber Security Industry Alliance. 

I urge all Senators to support and 

pass this important legislation. 

f 

HONORING MARYLAND’S 

OLYMPIANS 

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today 

I rise to honor and congratulate Maryland’s Olympic athletes for their performance in the 2008 Beijing Summer 

Olympic Games. These dedicated, disciplined, and accomplished athletes are 

a source of great pride to Maryland and 

the country. Therefore, it is with great 

enthusiasm that I commend: 

Freddy Adu of Montgomery County, 

2008 men’s soccer team; Carmel Anthony of Baltimore, 2008 men’s basketball team; David Banks of Potomac, 

2008 men’s Olympic rowing team; Maurice Edu of College Park, 2008 men’s 

soccer team; Jun Gao of Montgomery 

County, 2008 women’s table-tennis 

team; Georgia Gould of Baltimore, 2008 

women’s cycling team; Kathryn Hoff of 

Towson, 2008 women’s Olympic swimming team; Gao Jun of Gaithersburg, 

2008 men’s Olympic table tennis team; 

Bobby Lea of Talbot County, 2008 

men’s Olympic cycling team; Mechelle 

Lewis of Prince George’s County, 2008 

women’s track & field team; Jessica 

Long of Baltimore, 2008 Paralympics 

swimming team; Khan Bob Malaythong 

of Rockville, 2008 men’s Olympic badminton team; Tatyana McFadden of 

Howard County, 2008 Paralympic 

wheelchair racing; Scott Parsons of 

Montgomery County, 2008 men’s canoe 

and kayak team; Michael Phelps II of 

Baltimore, 2008 men’s Olympic swimming team; Lauren Powley of the University of Maryland, 2008 women’s field 

hockey team; Dina Rizzo of the University of Maryland, 2008 women’s field 


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