FAA Air Transporation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BENNET. Madam President, today I was proud to vote for final passage of the amendment offered by Senators MURRAY, HARKIN, SCHUMER and REID to the FAA authorization bill. This amendment brings long overdue good news to teachers and kids in Colorado and those worried about losing access to the health care they need. I was elated to see the Senate break through the usual gridlock and pass this important legislation.

The package will save thousands of jobs and protect health services for kids and vulnerable populations across Colorado and the country. During this savage economy that is hurting families all over our state and our country, as we work to get our ship righted, our kids and our schools should be at the top of our list of priorities.

If we are going to ensure that we leave more opportunity for our kids than we ourselves have had then we must remain committed to education--to set the table for our kids' futures; to prepare them for the competitive world that awaits them; and to enrich their lives with a better education than the one that was offered to us.

I have tried to be a leader in the fight for the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, FMAP, funding and saving teachers' jobs. I was an original cosponsor of the Keep Our Educators Working Act of 2010, introduced by Senator TOM HARKIN. In February, I also led a group of 43 of my Senate colleagues in submitting a letter urging the majority leader to provide States with an additional 6-month FMAP extension.

The Medicaid FMAP extension passed today by the Senate was crucial in the effort to keep public servants at work across the country. Without it, States would be forced to layoff tens of thousands of more teachers and other public employees, cut education funding even further, and further reduce payments to health care providers. More than 900,000 public and private sector jobs could be lost.

Colorado alone would lose more than $200 million if the FMAP extension fell victim to Washington politics. Cuts could include eliminating state aid for full-day kindergarten for 35,000 children, eliminating preschool aid for 21,000 children, and increasing overcrowding in juvenile detention facilities, according the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The education jobs funding would prevent the loss of between 2,000 and 3,000 teacher jobs in Colorado alone.

I am glad to see this package is paid for. However, I was very concerned about the House package which paid for teacher jobs in part by cutting education reform programs. I joined 15 of my colleagues in signing a letter requesting that we find other offsets to pay for this important measure. I am very pleased that we were able to avert the cuts to critical education programs and save teachers' jobs--all without raising the deficit.

Additionally, while I strongly support the measure, in no small part because it is completely paid for and does not add one dime to our deficit, I would like to raise a strong concern with one of the pay-fors in this package. A rescission of $1.5 billion from the Department of Energy's, DOE, renewable energy loan guarantee program was used to help offset this amendment.

In Colorado this important program has helped foster tremendous growth in the clean energy economy. Just last month, President Obama announced a conditional loan guarantee for a solar manufacturing facility in my home state and there are dozens of job creating renewable energy projects across the country waiting for approval from DOE.

This rescission places $15 to $20 billion of private investment in clean energy investment in jeopardy. While I am constantly reminded that the Senate needs to make tough choices as we strive to be fiscally responsible, I am compelled to raise my objection to this offset. It is my sincere hope that, in the future, this Chamber, the House of Representatives and the administration will avoid tapping into what are already scarce clean energy investments to pay for what are admittedly important recession-stopping items such as the ones we approved today.

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