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   Mr. REID. Madam President, this week we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the landmark legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational and athletic programs.

   I look back with great pride at the teams we have had in Nevada. One

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   I love to go watch the Rebel women play. We now have a new stadium for softball. I have told other people this, maybe not so many all at once, but I would rather watch them play than the men's baseball team. It is a much quicker game. They are tremendous athletes. You are right on top of the game in that little stadium, right there with the players.

   We should be happy with all of the progress we have made providing girls and women with opportunities previously denied them. We must continue our efforts to promote gender equality because the job is not complete.

   I can remember going to a rural community in Nevada, White Pine County High School, and I was going to speak to an assembly. They had me in a room waiting for the kids to gather. Two girls were there, obviously doing homework, studying. They had on letter sweaters. It was kind of cold in the room. I made conversation with them. We talked about how much they loved their athletics.

   I told them they were able to play ball because of the law we passed in Congress, that they would not be playing otherwise. They said they did not understand that. When I left, one of the girls--her name was Cassandra--said, ``I would die if I did not have my athletics.''

   I am sure she was exaggerating, but she conveyed to me how much she enjoyed athletics. It was like when I was a young man in high school, that was the No. 1 thing for me. It was the No. 1 thing for her.

   We must be aware that Title IX programs that have proven so effective in helping girls and women are under assault from critics who would like to turn the clock back.

   A major column in Newsweek magazine was bashing Title IX about 3 weeks ago, saying it is a bad program and all it does is hurt boys. Millions of people see each Newsweek magazine publication.

   I cannot allow the challenges to proceed. When my wife and I went to high school, the only thing she could do athletically was be a cheerleader. That is what she did. It did not matter if she could run as fast as Gail Devers, or that she could jump high, or whatever it might be in athletics today, she could not be involved. They did not have programs for girls. That is the way it was almost every place in America.

   My boys got their athletic ability from my wife, more so than from me. Yet she did not have the chance when she was young to be competitive in sports.

   Title IX has helped dramatically to increase participation in sports among female students. Among high school girls, there has been an almost tenfold increase, from fewer than 300,000 playing competitive sports 30 years ago, to now, almost 3 million. At the college level, the number of female athletes increased from 30,000 to 150,000. Clearly, these statistics show if you build it, they will come. Girls and young women have a high level of interest in sports and are eager to have equal opportunities.

   I have no doubt that my participating in athletics and my sons' participating in athletics helped build character. That is what athletics is all about.

   Recently, I had the opportunity to have Billie Jean King come to my office. I had a great visit with her. Billie Jean King is what Title IX is all about. She inspired a generation of women, and some men, to participation in athletics when she beat a world-class tennis player. It was on national TV. Everyone knew she would lose, but she trounced him. We reminisced about that. The main reason she came to see me was to talk about the changing role in sports as it relates to women and the importance of Title IX.

   Billie Jean King has inspired successive generations of women athletes such as the world champion women's soccer team, whose players like Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, and Mia Hamm have benefitted from Title IX. I had the opportunity recently to join Julie Foudy at a soccer clinic she conducted for some girls in Las Vegas, where she was playing in a professional soccer league match that night. It was great to see hundreds and hundreds of people who came to see Julie Foudy, a great professional athlete who got there as a result of Title IX.

   Judy Foudy, Brandy Chastain, and Mia Hamm now serve as role models, as do the current tennis stars, Venus and Serena Williams. We must continue to encourage participation in sports and give girls and women the same opportunities that boys and men have traditionally had. Athletic training and competition have the same benefits for females as for males, teaching them not only how to score goals but set goals and work hard to achieve them through cooperation and teamwork, developing leadership skills and instilling self-confidence.

   At a time where far too many American kids lead sedentary lives where they do not move off the couch, and many are obese, we must support programs that lead to improved fitness and health. Adolescent female athletes are more apt than nonathletes to develop a positive body image, less likely to become pregnant, and are at less risk for developing women's diseases such as osteoporosis and breast cancer.

   In addition, sports provide a safe and healthy alternative to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, and to antisocial behavior.

   Students who participate in sports feel a greater connection to school and keep their grades open to maintain their eligibility.

   Mr. President, as I indicated, there are people who are trying to get rid of Title IX, saying it is unfair that we have girls participating in high school and college athletics because it hurts boys' programs, and for other reasons. They say things such as girls are not as competitive, they don't need to do this--I am not making this up. You can read the editorial in Newsweek Magazine.

   Mr. President, before Title IX, there were almost no athletic scholarships available for women. Now many women have been able to pursue a higher education as a result of participation in sports, just like young men did and still do.

   I am disappointed, if not surprised, that some critics would like to halt this program. They are making misleading and unfair criticisms of Title IX.

   Let's set the record straight. Title IX does not require ``quotas.'' It is wrong to scapegoat women as the supposed cause of cuts in men's athletic programs. In fact, colleges have added hundreds of men's teams and there are tens of thousands more male athletes at universities since Title IX was enacted. While it is true that some men's teams--and some women's teams--have been dropped during this time period, many factors, including a declining interest in a particular sport, influence a school's decision. Dropping a men's team has never been required by law or the courts enforcing the law of Title IX. Rather, each school is given discretion to make decisions about how to comply with Title IX and provide equal opportunities and treatment for male and female student-athletes.

   So while we remain vigilant against attacks on Title IX, we must also push for its continued implementation and enforcement.

   For most Americans, Title IX is synonymous with our efforts to provide girls and women an equal opportunity to participate in sports, but Title IX addresses a whole range of important programs and issues related to education. In fact, only a small fraction of Title IX complaints received by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights are related to athletics.

   Title IX also has helped provide women with equal access to higher education.

   I remember when I practiced law. A very fine, brilliant man I worked with was talking about women being lawyers. There were not many lawyers in Las Vegas at the time that were female--very few. My brilliant friend

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   Years ago, many universities excluded or severely restricted women from admission to certain programs. Now, however, the percentages of women enrolled in American law schools and medical schools are about the same as for men.

   Unfortunately, according to reports recently issued by the National Women's Law Center and the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, young women continue to be subject to persistent gender segregation and discriminatory counseling in high school vocational and technical education programs at American high schools. There was a wonderful piece a week ago

   last Saturday about women on public radio about how girls are treated in high school, about going into programs that are vocational in nature, mathematics in nature. School counselors talk them out of it every day. While we are speaking, counselors are telling girls: why don't you take up something else? How about being a nurse or a school teacher? You don't want to go into vocational education or work on cars. But they do and they do just as well as men working on cars. So there is some real significant discriminatory practice there.

   They are often steered toward programs like cosmetology, health aide preparation, and child care training, nursing, teaching all of which lead to lower paying jobs most of the time; while male students congregate in programs leading to higher paying careers in technology and the trades. This has significant negative implications for women's employment prospects and earning power.

   We need to vigorously defend and enforce Title IX in all of the areas it covers, so that we can sustain and expand upon the progress we have made.

   Often we hear that girls and women are the beneficiaries of Title IX, but I think it is more accurate to say that we all benefit from this important civil rights legislation--these affirmative action programs that are Title IX. Certainly, American society as a whole is better when women--who, after all, make up more than half of our population--are provided a fair and equal opportunity to develop their full potential.

   I go back to what I said when I started this speech. I reflect on watching the Running Rebels basketball team when they were the national champions. There were great players on that team. As I indicated, six of the players on that team in 1 year were drafted in the first round.

   I also reflect with pleasure on watching Lori Harrigan throw a softball and keep the UNLV Rebels softball team in the top 10.

   I also reflect on how things have changed since I started practicing law. The legal profession is better now because of the women involved, just as the Senate is a better place because of the women who are here. That is what Title IX is all about.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.

   Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Nevada for bringing up the issue of women in sports. It has meant a great deal for women and girls to have these opportunities.

   The Senator talked about when his wife was in school and all she could do was cheer for the team. I know Mrs. Reid. She and I are about the same age. That was exactly my experience. I am very happy to say my daughter was able to play soccer. I see the young girls today reaching for the stars--and attaining them.

   I wonder what the order is at this point in terms of the time division?

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time until 4 o'clock is evenly divided for morning business.

   Mrs. BOXER. Our time runs out at 3:30?

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. Ten minutes to each side.

   Mr. DORGAN. Reserving the right to object, is it evenly divided on both sides or just 10 minutes per Senator?

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. Ten minute grants, evenly divided to each side, but no one side has control.

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