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Like all teaching hospitals, children's hospitals receive less and less support for their graduate medical education (GME) programs from most insurers. Unlike other teaching hospitals, independent children's hospitals receive virtually no support for GME from the one remaining, stable source of GME support--the Medicare program--because
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PEDIATRIC RESEARCH
As centers of research devoted to improving the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of children's illnesses and conditions, children's hospitals very much appreciate your efforts to bring new visibility the need for increased NIH investment in pediatric biomedical research overall and in pediatric research training in particular. While there are a variety of ways to structure this increased investment in NIH, we know that you share our conviction that in the end, the result must be a real increase in total support for pediatric research. Its purpose should be to stimulate significant additional pediatric research investment and growth in the number of researchers focusing on children's health, not to cause a shift in funding that comes at the expense of any current NIH research efforts for children.
PEDIATRIC PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION
With so many children's hospitals serving as their states' or regions' poison control centers, N.A.C.H. especially appreciates the provisions of your legislation to stabilize and improve our nation's poison control system. Over half of the two million poisonings reported in 1996 were by parents of children under age 6. Almost 2 out of 3 poison calls are on behalf of children under age 18. Legislation that serves to improve and stabilize this critical system will undoubtedly improve the lives and health of children as well.
N.A.C.H. also supports the bill's provisions to improve prenatal care and birth defects research through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are important to reduce morbidity and mortality from birth, improving health, and preventing life-long health care costs for children and adults.
In conclusion, Senator Bond, we commend you for the breadth and depth that this bill undertakes to improve the health of our nation's children. This legislation certainly sets the standard for what the 106th Congress should consider and pass with respect to child health.
If you have any questions or need additional information, call Peters Willson or Bruce Lesley at 703-684-1355.
Sincerely,
LAWRENCE A. MCANDREWS.
--
MARCH OF DIMES,
BIRTH DEFECTS FOUNDATION,
Washington, DC, March 8, 1999.
Hon. CHRISTOPHER
BOND,
U.S. Senate, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington,
DC.
DEAR SENATOR BOND: On behalf of more than 3 million volunteers and 1500 staff members of the March of Dimes, I want to commend you for introducing the ``Healthy Kids 2000 Act.'' We are particularly pleased that you have included in this legislation three specific initiatives important to the Foundation and to the health of mothers, infants and children.
The first section of the bill, ``Health Care Accessibility and Accountability for Mothers and Newborns,'' includes a much needed initiative to improve access to health care for pregnant women. Numerous studies have shown that prenatal care improves the likelihood that a child will be born healthy. Your proposal that states be given the flexibility to cover prenatal care for income-eligible pregnant women through the new State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) is an important step to take. If enacted, this provision would help provide women the prenatal and maternity care they need to have healthy, full term babies. The March of Dimes strongly supports access to prenatal care. Because of the Foundation's concern that more than 350,000 women do not have access to these needed services, the Foundation has identified the expansion of S-CHIP to cover pregnant women as one of its highest federal legislative priorities for 1999.
The Foundation is also pleased to support the ``Pediatric Public Health Promotion'' provision that would establish a National Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This change in law would elevate the visibility of the birth defects activities of the CDC, authorized by the Birth Defects Prevention Act (P.L. 105-168), which you guided to enactment in 1998. As you know, for many years the March of Dimes has been a strong supporter of federal birth defects research and prevention activities. We applaud you for proposing to integrate the activities of various programs to further promote the prevention of birth defects.
In addition, the March of Dimes commends you on including the ``Pediatric Research Initiative'' in the ``Healthy Kids 2000 Act.'' If enacted, this initiative would establish the authorization needed to obtain additional funding for pediatric biomedical research within the National Institutes of Health. The Foundation believes that a partnership between the public and private sectors is the more effective way to raise the level of investment in clinical research pertaining to children. The March of Dimes urges Congress to strengthen the national commitment to all children.
We thank you for your leadership and are eager to work with you on this and other legislative initiatives important to the health of the nation's mothers, infants and children.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer L. Howse,
President.
By Mr. COVERDELL (for himself, Mr. TORRICELLI, and Mr. ABRAHAM):
S. 593. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase maximum taxable income for the 15 percent rate bracket, to provide a partial exclusion from gross income for dividends and interest received by individuals, to provide a long-term capital gains deduction for individuals, to increase the traditional IRA contribution limit, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
THE SMALL SAVERS ACT
Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I rise today, joined by my good friends Senator TORRICELLI and Senator ABRAHAM, to introduce legislation whose time I believe has clearly come. We are faced with a real crisis. That crisis is the state of personal savings, savings by families that let them prepare for the bumps in the road.
Families are not saving, and I believe it is not happening because our government takes too much from them. A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office showed that taxes on the American public are at their highest level since World War II. Too many middle-class families have been squeezed to the point where they live paycheck to paycheck without the option of saving for the future.
Today, the Nation's economy remains the envy of the world. The United States has the first federal budget surplus in thirty years, unemployment is down and the stock market is up, but there are troubling signs on the horizon. Manufacturing activity slowed in December for the seventh straight month, dropping to its lowest level in almost eight years as global economic problems continued to hinder exports. At the same time, personal savings are at Depression-era lows.
In 1982, families saved nine percent of their personal income. In 1992, it was between five and six percent. Last year, it was one-half of one percent and headed into the red. Personal savings is so important because it helps prepare families for any crisis that could occur, such as a health emergency or job loss.
Having said that, I believe we would all do well to remember the lessons from the biblical parable of Joseph. Recall that Joseph warned Pharaoh his kingdom would experience seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. His message to Pharaoh was to build reserves during the years of plenty in preparation for the years of famine, so that his people would not suffer. To ensure the longevity of our recent economic gains, it is important to remember the lessons of Joseph and heed the words of President Kennedy who, in his second State of the Union address said: ``Pleasant as it is to bask in the warmth of recovery ..... the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.''
One-third of Americans have no savings at all, and the next third have less than $3,000 in savings. Although the baby-boom generation has contributed to the explosion of people investing in the equities, only two in five baby boomers will have enough savings to maintain their current standard of living when they begin to retire in 2011.
The Small Savers Act would help to reverse these troubling trends. First, our proposal returns middle class taxpayers to the lowest Federal income tax bracket. Under our legislation, 7 million taxpayers would no longer find themselves taxed at 28%. Instead, they would be taxed at the 15% bracket.
Second, it would encourage modest savings and investment. We propose to enable savers to earn $500, or $250 for singles, in interest and dividends without paying a tax. According to the Joint Economic Committee, 30 million low and middle income taxpayers would be able to save tax free. Our proposal also would wipe out capital gains taxes for 10 million low and middle income investors by exempting the first $5,000 of long-term capital gains. For those committed to ending the taxation of capital gains, this would be an opportunity to take that first step while encouraging lower and middle class workers to invest for their future.
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Finally, we provide for a modest $1,000 increase in the contribution limit for deductible IRA contributions, from $2,000 to $3,000, and index for inflation after 2009. These contribution limits have not been raised since 1981.
The Nation faces many challenges in the years ahead. None is more important than sustaining economic growth and ensuring our retirement security. The Small Savers Act is a modest and progressive step to begin shoring up personal savings and to keep the Nation on the path to long-term economic health.
By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
S. 594. A bill to ban the importation of large capacity ammunition feeding devices; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
LARGE-CAPACITY AMMUNITION MAGAZINE IMPORT BAN OF 1999
Mr. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will plug a gaping loophole in our gun laws and protect us all from the deadly, tragic violence of assault weapons.
This bill is not about gun control. This bill is not about politics. And this bill is not about partisanship. But this bill is about stopping foreign manufacturers from skirting the laws that already apply to companies within our borders.
The bill we introduce today will address, finally, the loophole in the law that allows foreign manufacturers to flood our shores with high capacity ammunition clips, while domestic manufacturers are prohibited from selling those very clips.
Our bill bans future importation of all ammunition clips with a capacity of greater than 10 rounds.
Mr. President, this legislation would not ban the sale or possession of clips already in circulation. And the domestic manufacture of these clips is already illegal for most purposes. Under current law, U.S. manufacturers are already prohibited from manufacturing large capacity clips for sale to the general public, but foreign companies continue to do so.
As the author of the 1994 provision, I can assure you that this was not our intent. We intended to ban the future manufacture of all high capacity clips, leaving only a narrow clause allowing for the importation of clips already on their way to this country. Instead, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has allowed millions of foreign clips into this country, with no true method of determining date of manufacture.
In fact, between March and August of last year alone, BATF approved more than 8 million large-capacity clips for importation into America.
Many of these clips were surely manufactured after 1994, but ATF has no way to determining whether or not this is true. As a result, they simply must take the word of the exporting company or country.
The clips come from at least 20 different countries, from Austria to Zimbabwe.
The clips approved during this one short period accounted for almost 128 million rounds of ammunition--and every round represents the potential for taking one human life.
These clips come in sizes ranging from 15 rounds per clip to 30, 75, 90, or even 250 rounds per clip.
Twenty thousand clips of 250-rounds came from England;
Two million 15-round magazines came from Italy;
Five thousand clips of 70-rounds came from the Czech Republic.
And the list goes on, and on.
Mr. President, 250-round clips have no sporting purpose. They are not used for self defense. They have only one use--the purposeful killing of other men, women and children.
It is both illogical and irresponsible to permit foreign companies to sell items to the American public--particularly items that are so often used for deadly purposes--that U.S. companies are prohibited from selling. It is time to plug this loophole and close our borders to these tools of death and destruction. Our domestic manufacturers are complying with the law, and we must now force foreign manufacturers to comply as well.
In April of last year, President Clinton and Treasury Secretary Rubin closed one loophole in the 1994 ban on assault weapons by blocking further imports of modified semiautomatic assault weapons. However, the Department of Justice advises me that the President lacks the legal authority to take the same action regarding large-capacity clips. As a result, we must take legislative action to stop further imports of these killer clips.
In closing our borders to these high capacity clips, we will not put an end to all incidents of gun violence. But we will limit the destructive power of that violence. We will not stop every troubled child who decides to commit an act of violence from doing so, but we can limit the tools that a child can find to carry out the act.
Each of us has been touched in some way by the devastating effects of gun violence. Each of our states has faced unnecessary tragedy and senseless destruction as a result of the high-powered, high-capacity weapons falling into the hands of gangs, drive-by shooters, cop killers, grievance killers, and yes, even children. My own state of California has too often been the subject of national attention due to incidents of gun violence.
Just a few short months ago in Oakland, California, officer James Williams became yet another example of what can happen when a troubled teenager gets hold of a high-capacity weapon. Soon after midnight on a Sunday early this New Year, Officer Williams and two colleagues found themselves searching the side of the road for a gun that had reportedly been thrown by suspects involved in a recent chase. Officer Williams had been out of the police academy for only eleven weeks, and was undoubtedly looking forward to getting home to see his three children.
But tragically, James Williams never made it home that night. While Williams searched for the lost gun, a 19-year-old man stood on the freeway overpass above and fired the shots
that would change Williams' family forever. Using a Hungarian made AK-47 with a Chinese made high-capacity ammunition clip, the teenager fired many shots--too many.
One Telfon-coated bullet from this high capacity clip fatally wounded officer Williams, tearing through his bulletproof vest and leaving his three children without a father. And that lone bullet tore through more than just James Williams' body armor. It tore through the very fabric of his entire family, and its damage cannot be repaired.
To many, Officer Williams has now become just another statistic in the fight against gun violence. But he is more than that to his family, and he must mean more than that to us, as well. We must fight to end the tragedies faced by so many families across this nation. We must fight to give meaning to the countless lives that have been extinguished before their time.
One phenomenon which has most tragically revealed the problems presented by these high capacity clips has been the use of these clips by youngsters to kill other youngsters.
In Springfield, Oregon, a 15-year-old boy used a 30-round clip to kill two of his fellow students and wound 22 others.
In Jonesboro, Arkansas, one of two boys carried a Universal carbine equipped with a 15-round killer clip. Firing every one of those 15 bullets, the boy helped his partner kill five people and wound 10 more.
And just last December in Los Angeles, 27 year old LAPD officer Bryan Brown was shot and killed by an assailant with a rifle and double magazine. Following the tragic shooting, Officer Brown's 7 year old son asked, ``Why did my daddy have to die?''
Mr. President, Officer Brown and Officer Williams gave their lives to protect the lives of so many others, and their children have now been left without a father. We must do what we can to make the lives of our law enforcement officers more safe.
And we must also do what we can to bring foreign companies into compliance with the same laws we impose on companies here at home. The only way we can accomplish these goals is to pass this simple bill.
In 1994, we fired a first shot in the fight against assault weapons and killer clips by banning the assault weapons most commonly used in crime and to kill police officers. I am proud to have authored that legislation, and many of my colleagues who joined me in that fight remember how hard we worked to make a difference. Our opponents told
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In fact, recent statistics prove that the assault weapons ban is working to reduce crime and to save the lives of law enforcement officers and countless others.
A recent study by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms showed that compared to other guns, the use of assault weapons in crimes is rapidly falling. In fact, while assault weapons accounted for more than 6% of the guns traced in crimes before the 1994 crime bill went into effect, these guns now account for less than 2.4% of those traces.
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