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We recognize that the most vulnerable of those first are the women.
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Mr. Chairman, I represent Watts and Compton and Wilmington, some of the most impoverished areas in this country; and I have seen how domestic violence has absolutely just ripped apart women and children. I know that we have won this amendment, but I just wanted to stand to recognize those women who have stepped forward who are really strong and brave women.
HELP VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Mr. Chairman, low-income women are significantly more likely to experience violence than other women, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Medical researchers assert that 61 percent of women who head poor families have experienced severe physical violence as adults at the hands of male partners.
The problems faced by low-income battered women can be particularly acute and complex. Often they are financially dependent on their batterer and require an immediate source of support and shelter in order to escape from a dangerous situation. In many communities, emergency shelters are simply not available; where they are, they are frequently forced to turn victims away due to overcrowding as too often battered women and their children are forced to return to the home that they share with the batterer because they have nowhere else to go.
HELP CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY
Every year, LSC-funded programs help millions of children living in poverty, helping them to avoid homelessness, to obtain child support, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and other benefits, and to find safe haven against violence in the home.
The number of children living in poverty is increasing. The legal problems faced by people living in poverty can have particularly serious, long-term consequences for children. For example, a family with children that goes unrepresented in an eviction proceeding can easily find itself homeless, due to the chronic shortage of low-income housing. We can do better, better as a rich country to protect and take care of our children.
SENIOR CITIZENS
Many elderly people depend on government benefits, such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Veterans Benefits, Food Stamps, Medicare and Medicaid, for income and health care. One of the challenges of the entitlement system is that an attorney is often needed to navigate the system. Legal services programs frequently represent clients in establishing their eligibility for these programs or dealing with reimbursement or benefit problems.
Older people are frequently victims of consumer fraud, particularly if they lack financial sophistication or have lowered mental capacity because of age-related illness. They are often victimized by contractors who promise to make repairs but perform incompletely, charging exorbitant prices. Faced with the need to make expensive repairs on their homes, pay medical bills, or supplement their income after the death of a spouse, they may be enticed into home equity loans they cannot afford. In many cases, only the intervention of a legal services attorney has prevented victims from becoming homeless.
AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MS. DEGETTE
Ms. DEGETTE. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Ms. DEGETTE:
Page 4, after line 14, insert the following:
site security reporting
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
For necessary expenses of the Attorney General in carrying out section 112(r)(7)(H)(xi) of the Clean Air Act (as added by section 3(a) of the Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act (Pub. L. 106-40)), to be derived by transfer from the amount made available in this title for ``Counterterrorism Fund'', $750,000.
Ms. DEGETTE (during the reading). Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read and printed in the RECORD.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
Ms. DEGETTE. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to sponsor this amendment, along with my distinguished colleagues and good friends from the Committee on Commerce, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. BROWN) and the gentleman from California (Mr. WAXMAN), to protect the health and safety of millions of Americans.
[Time: 16:30]
The Clean Air Act contains a provision, section 112, that was intended to reduce the risks posed by hazardous chemicals stored at 66,000 facilities in the United States, to inform the public of these risks, and to facilitate planning for these risks. We know accidents at facilities that store hazardous chemicals can result in environmental damage, and in injuries and even deaths to workers and people in the surrounding communities.
Mr. Chairman, fully one-third of the American public lives within 5 miles of one of these facilities. The best way to reduce the risk posed to our constituents is to make public information about risks so that community responders, emergency personnel, schools, and anyone living near these facilities can be prepared.
In August of last year, this body passed the Chemical Safety Information Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act. This bill easily passed the House and the other body and was signed into law by the President last year.
In the law, we heeded the concerns of the FBI and the industry that criminals may obtain information required by the Clean Air Act if this information is posted on the Internet. The risk of terrorist attack on one of these facilities remains unclear as, thankfully, no attacks have occurred on American soil.
Nonetheless, we sought to balance the community's right to information with any incremental risk that a criminal might have access to the information. In that same law, we required the Attorney General to conduct a study of security at facilities that store or use extremely dangerous materials.
One component of the study is a review of the vulnerability of the facilities to criminal or terrorist activity, current industry practices regarding site security, and the security of transportation of hazardous substances. An interim report from the Attorney General is due in August of 2000, and the law requires a full report by August, 2002.
Mr. Chairman, if the FBI or anyone else is concerned that the information about these facilities may be attractive to terrorists, then we all must be concerned that these facilities are doing what they can to secure their loading docks, rail spurs, and storage areas from criminal activity. This study will be instrumental to the ability of the Department to accurately assess the risk posed by terrorists and criminals.
Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, despite the study requirement contained in the law, the Department of Justice tells us they do not have the funds to carry out this requirement.
In March of this year, the Attorney General requested a reprogramming in the amount of $750,000 from the counterterrorism fund to do this study. In fact, Mr. Chairman, the chairman, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. BLILEY), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. DINGELL), recently wrote a letter to the gentleman from Florida (Chairman YOUNG) of the Committee on Appropriations in support of the need for funding, and at the appropriate time in the proceedings, Mr. Chairman, I will request unanimous consent to enter the letter into the RECORD.
Mr. Chairman, to date Congress has not acted on the Department of Justice's request. That is the purpose of this amendment. This amendment will allocate $750,000 in the Department of Justice counterterrorism fund for this study. This amendment will allow the Attorney General to fully comply with our mandate in the chemical safety act and will provide valuable safety information to our communities.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. In my home, for example, which is a transportation and economics center, we are also a home to many environmental issues. My constituents and I know the importance of ensuring that our facilities are safe and secure.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Alison Taylor and Sarah Keim of the Democratic staff of the Committee on Commerce and also Robert Gropp of
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Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I want to commend the gentlewoman for offering this amendment, and commend her and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. BROWN) for their leadership on this important issue.
Chemical facilities are obvious targets for terrorist attack. Many of them are located in the hearts of our communities with large population centers. As a result, Congress, when we learned about the chemical facilities lacking sufficient security to address the threat of terrorist attack, asked the Attorney General to examine the vulnerability of these facilities and to report back to the Congress, but we have not had this study funded.
This amendment would provide funding for the study, and I want to join with the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DEGETTE) in support of her amendment.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment offered by my friend, the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DEGETTE), and thank her for her good work.
This amendment would help protect the public by funding a study of security of chemical facilities to help protect the public from releases of dangerous chemicals into the air.
The Clean Air Act requires chemical facilities to develop risk management plans, including worst case accident scenarios, for the EPA. These plans were to be made available to the public so that anyone, fathers, mothers, coworkers, teachers, could learn about the potential for a chemical accident in his or her own community.
Last year, concerns were raised that terrorists would use the worst case scenario information to attack chemical facilities. In response, this Congress passed and the President signed legislation restricting release of the information. In May, the administration released a proposed rule sharply restricting public access to the data on chemical hazards.
Mr. Chairman, I remain skeptical of these severe limits on the public's right to know about chemical hazards in our community. Chemical accidents are a daily reality in this country, sometimes taking the lives of fellow workers, of neighbors, of parents, of children, of travelers, while terrorist attacks are rare, indeed.
If these chemical facilities, however, are indeed tempting targets for terrorists, our focus should be on restricting terrorists' access to them, rather than restricting the public's access to information about them.
Last year the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry investigated several chemical sites and found it easy to walk in through unguarded gates and unattended entrances. This amendment will reprogram $750,000, as requested by the Attorney General, from the counterterrorism fund to carry out the study authorized last year by this body.
If terrorism truly is a threat at chemical sites, this is a small amount of money to spend to investigate that risk. If terrorism is not enough of a threat to justify $750,000, I then question the restrictions that have been placed on community access to chemical accident information.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote for the DeGette amendment.
Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman and the other Members' interest in this issue. I can assure the gentlewoman and the others that I will be happy to work with them to ensure that this study is funded.
Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ROGERS. I yield to the gentlewoman from Colorado.
Ms. DEGETTE. Mr. Chairman, with the assurance from the chairman that he will work with us on this matter to secure funding for the Department of Justice to conduct the study, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
The Clerk will read.
The Clerk read as follows:
TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER COMPLIANCE FUND
For payments authorized by section 109 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (47 U.S.C. 1008), $282,500,000, to remain available until expended.
AMENDMENT NO. 7 OFFERED BY MR. MCGOVERN
Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 7 offered by Mr. MCGOVERN:
In title I, in the item relating to ``GENERAL ADMINISTRATION--TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIER COMPLIANCE FUND'', after the dollar amount insert ``(reduced by $4,479,000)''.
In title V, in the item relating to ``SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION--SALARIES AND EXPENSES'', after the second dollar amount insert ``(increased by $4,479,000)''.
Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Chairman, this is a modest amendment that will have a very positive impact on our country's economy. Quite simply, it will bring the Small Business Administration's Women's Business Center Program from $8.89 million currently provided in this bill up to its authorized level of $13 million, and provide the President's budget request of $1 million for the SBA's National Women's Business Council up from the $595,000 currently in this bill.
The total amount provided by this amendment to achieve these goals is $4.5 million.
Mr. Chairman, I am very proud to be here today standing with my distinguished and bipartisan cosponsors of this amendment, the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. JOHNSON), the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. UDALL), the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. BONO), the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. SANDERS), the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. MORELLA), the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. MILLENDER-MCDONALD), the gentleman from Maine (Mr. BALDACCI), and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. NAPOLITANO).
This is an issue we feel very passionately about, and urge all our colleagues to join us in providing expanded opportunity for women entrepreneurs that will strengthen our entire economy. According to the results of the 2000 Avon Global Women's Survey that polled 30,000 women from 33 countries, the top three factors that women across the world feel would improve their lives in the new millenium are, one, financial independence; two, equal job opportunities; and three, the ability to start one's own business.
Here in the United States, we are living in the largest economic expansion in our Nation's history. Now more than ever it is incumbent upon us to ensure that all Americans benefit from and have the opportunity to contribute to our prosperity.
Overall, women can and are succeeding in the business arena. In fact, women-owned businesses are a true American success story, growing twice as fast as all other businesses.
As of 1999, there were 9.11 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating sales in excess of $3.6 trillion and employing 27.5 million workers. Yet, despite these impressive statistics, women entrepreneurs have lower levels of available credit than their male counterparts, and minority businesswomen are less likely than Caucasians to have bank credit.
The Women's Business Centers program and the National Women's Business Council help push the doors open. For example, in my home State of Massachusetts, the Center for Women and Enterprise has served 1,200 women from a very wide spectrum of backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. Seventy percent of the Center's clients are single women, 32 percent are women of color, 44 percent are in the very low- or low-to-moderate income brackets. Sixty percent of these women are seeking to start their first businesses.
Across the country, Women's Business Centers provide education, training, consulting, and access to capital to women entrepreneurs. There are Women's Business Centers in 46 States serving tens of thousands of entrepreneurs each year. A large percentage of Center clients are women from low-income or disadvantaged backgrounds who would be unable to start their own businesses without the assistance of a Women's Business Center.
The Women's Business Centers' mission is empowerment. These centers
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Past estimates show the program has created on average one new business and four new jobs for every 10,000 investment. By helping women to help themselves, these centers are strengthening the economy by creating locally-owned businesses and jobs, and by reaching out to new markets and new entrepreneurs, these centers are helping to ensure that our business community reflects our Nation's diversity. Yet, in spite of this progress, there are significant numbers of women entrepreneurs waiting and in need of these services .
Mr. Chairman, let me now just say a few words about the National Women's Business Council. The Council is a bipartisan Federal Government advisory panel created to serve as an independent source of counsel to the President and to Congress of economic issues of importance to women business owners.
The Council's goals include increasing access to capital and credit for women, increasing access to the Federal procurement market, strengthening the training and technical assistance networks, and facilitating alliances between policymakers and women business owners.
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