A Report To The People of Connecticut As a U.S. Senator, I have many important responsibilities- giving voice to the values and aspirations of Connecticut's families, fighting for their interests in Washington, and working as hard as I can to help them make the most of their own lives and make the state a better place to realize their dreams. As a candidate for reelection, I believe I have a special responsibility to communicate with my constituents about exactly what I am doing to honor their trust and deliver on their behalf. I take seriously the fact that I serve the people who elected me, and that they have the right to know what kind of job I am doing. Here then is a report I have compiled to help begin that process and inform the people of Connecticut of the work I have been proud to do for them. Sincerely, Joe Lieberman Strengthening Our Economy Over the last several years, Connecticut's economy has moved from recession to recovery to rejuvenation, producing a new sense of optimism in the state. During that time, I have worked on a number of fronts to help working families through the hard times, expand opportunities for businesses and workers, nurture the development of the state's high-tech sector, revitalize our cities, and lift up more families who have been left behind by the current boom. Saving Defense Jobs. Our Connecticut delegation has worked diligently to maintain and strengthen our defense industrial base and protect the jobs that depend on the weapons systems produced by state companies. In 1999 alone, we secured: $748.6 billion for the New Attack Submarine construction and an additional $397 million for continued R&D (Electric Boat in New London) $2.8 billion for the F-22 fighter plane (Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford) $3.2 billion for the C-17 aircraft (Pratt & Whitney) $491.9 million to continue the Joint Strike Fighter development program (Pratt & Whitney) $259 million for 36 Blackhawk and Seahawk helicopters (Sikorsky in Stratford) $110 million to modify existing Blackhawks (Sikorsky) $231.4 million for JSTARS aircraft (Norden in Norwalk) But we have done more than simply win federal contracts. In 1996, we brought together the major players at Norden, one of the nation's leading advanced defense electronics firms, and successfully persuaded the company's owners to stay in Connecticut, preserving 800 high quality jobs. Transportation Funding. Because of my position on the Environment and Public Works Committee, I was in a unique position to fight for Connecticut's interests in the landmark TEA-21 transportation bill we passed in 1998. Through this bill, the state stands to receive nearly $2.5 billion over six years, or about $408 million annually, which is an increase of almost $70 million a year. Through the appropriations process, our delegation has secured $8 million for the Hartford Transportation Project, which will help low-income residents make the transition from welfare to work; $4.3 million for the Hartford city light rail project along the 1-91 corridor; $2.25 million each for bus facilities in Waterbury, New Haven, Norwich; $1 million for the Stamford Urban Transitway. E-Commerce. To avoid slowing down the rapid growth of the Internet as a commercial medium, Congress passed legislation I cosponsored that called for a three-year moratorium on new state or local taxation of Internet sales. It also established an independent national commission to survey existing tax laws and propose model state legislation to create a fair and equitable system for taxing both e-commerce and "bricks-and-mortar" sales. Small Business Assistance. From my seat on the Small Business Committee, we have passed a number of bills aimed at promoting the growth of entrepreneurship in Connecticut. Among other things, we extended and expanded the Women's Business Center program and won funding for the first two WBCs in the state. We did the same for the Small Business Administration Act, which has been an important part of small business job creation in Connecticut, providing for a 450 percent increase in the number of business loans out of the Hartford SBA office and a 150 percent increase in dollars loaned. Technology Development. One program that I have worked on that has made a difference for Connecticut companies is the Advanced Technology Program. Our state has been one of the largest recipients of ATP grants, and the technologies developed through this aid will be a major source of future jobs for Connecticut workers. High-tech Workers. A major problem facing the high-tech sector in Connecticut and across the country is the lack of skilled workers to fill open jobs. We have tried to help these companies meet their needs by passing legislation to lift the cap on H1-B visas, which allow U.S. companies to bring in foreign workers on a short-term basis. To make sure American workers can compete for those jobs in the future, we included a provision in that law to support innovative technical training programs. Empowerment Zones. Congress has worked to help bring jobs and economic opportunity to urban areas through the Empowerment Zone program, which I helped to create. Soon after that program went into effect, we won approval for two Empowerment Communities in Bridgeport and New Haven and the funding and tax incentives that went with it. Last year we succeeded in having New Haven selected as one of 20 new Empowerment Zones, will bring an estimated $100 million over the next 10 years in new investments. Brownfields. Another successful urban initiative I have had a chance to work on is the Brownfields program, which provides tax incentives to encourage the redevelopment of contaminated industrial properties in inner cities. Over the last three years, we have secured more than $4 million in grants and loans for Connecticut cities to help turn these eyesores into economic resources, including $1 million for Stamford, which was designated a Brownfields Showcase community for its exemplary efforts. Economic Development. I had the opportunity to help rewrite the law authorizing the Economic Development Administration (EDA), which is the only agency of the federal government charged with stimulating industrial and commercial growth in economically distressed areas of the U.S. The EDA has put a total of $24.4 million into Connecticut since 1993, with much of the money going to projects critical to Hartford's economic future, such as the restoration of the Bushnell Theater and the expansion of the Mark Twain House. Protecting our health and safety The Federal Government can't guarantee the well-being of every family. But there are certain things that we can and must do to help protect the safety of our communities and the health of our citizens. Here are some of things we have done recently in those areas: Reducing crime. Six years ago Congress passed a comprehensive anti-crime bill that I cosponsored, and in the years since we have worked hard to obtain funding through those programs to help Connecticut communities. Among other things, we have won more than $70 million to hire more than 1,110 police officers in the state and expand our community policing capabilities. Violence Against Women Act. The 1994 crime bill also included legislation I cosponsored to combat violence against women. In 1998, we persuaded the Justice Department to allow Connecticut to use Violence Against Women Act grants to fund a statutory rape prosecution unit that investigates and prosecutes older men who seek out girls for sex. Health care quality. In the last few years I have worked with members of both parties to improve access and quality in our health care system. We passed the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, which I cosponsored, to allow people to change jobs without risking the loss of their health insurance. We are working on legislation to provide patients with reliable report cards so they can make more informed judgments about doctors and hospitals and get the best care available. And we have worked hard to reach consensus on a real Patients Bill of Rights to return decision-making authority back to doctors and patients. Restraints. In response to a series of disturbing reports in a Connecticut newspaper, Senator Dodd and I made a concerted effort to reduce the abuse of physical restraints in mental health institutions. We testified at hearings, requested studies from the Government Accounting Office and Congressional Research Service, and sponsored several bills. Although the effort is ongoing, our proposals led the Clinton Administration to issue new regulations for Medicare/Medicaid protecting patients in over 6200 hospitals. West Nile Virus. With concerns about the spread of West Nile Virus running throughout Fairfield County, we have worked hard to learn what caused the outbreak of this deadly disease and what we can do to prevent another crisis in the years ahead. Last year we held a field hearing at Fairfield University, and based on the testimony we received there, we wrote to the President requesting new funding for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to provide training and resources to state and local health departments. The Administration responded by releasing $3.1 million in emergency aid this spring, and by including a $35 million increase in the FY2001 budget for research on West Nile and other infectious diseases. Date rape drug. There has been growing concern about a date-rape drug known as GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric), which has killed more than 30 people, including a 20-year-old East Lyme man, sickened thousands more. In response, we passed legislation I cosponsored that classifies GHB as a federally-controlled substance and imposes stiff penalties for using it. Improving our schools Connecticut has some of the best-performing schools and students in the country. But we are also facing a number of challenges in meeting the high standards we are setting and providing every child, particularly those in disadvantaged communities, with a quality education and a fair shot at fulfilling their potential. Here are some of the steps we have taken to help the state meet those challenges: Three R's legislation. Earlier this year I joined with nine other Democratic Senators in introducing a comprehensive education reform bill that would increase federal investment in our public schools by $35 billion, and in return demand more accountability from states and local districts for raising academic achievement for every child. This legislation would target most of that additional aid on our most disadvantaged districts, provide those schools with far more flexibility in deciding how to spend those dollars, and encourage them to develop innovative programs. Charter Schools. I have been a strong believer in the promise of charter schools to promote more choice, greater accountability, and higher standards in our public schools. Two years ago we passed legislation I helped write to significantly expand the federal charter school program and provide Connecticut and other states with more incentives to start more of these innovative and independent schools. 100,000 Teachers. With the country about to experience a massive shortage of teachers, Congress passed legislation I cosponsored to help Connecticut and other states reduce the cost of filling those spots. This funding has helped our state hire hundreds of new teachers. Troops to Teachers. To help increase the pool of quality teachers, we passed legislation last year to expand the Defense Department's successful Troops to Teachers Program. The troops to teachers program offers financial incentives to former military personnel, provides grants to school systems around the country, and has already placed more than 3,000 former military personnel in teaching jobs in Connecticut and 47 other states. Saving for College. One of the most common concerns among Connecticut parents is how they will be able pay for their children's college education. In 1997 we passed legislation I cosponsored that is helping to reduce the burden on parents. This legislation created a new Education IRA account that allows families to save up to $500 each year tax free for college expenses. But we can and should do more. This year we held a hearing in the Senate focusing on why college tuition is rising so rapidly, and the answers we got will help us develop news ways to deal with this serious problem. Student Loans. In my first term we passed a major student loan reform bill that I helped write to reduce borrowing costs to students and improve the efficiency of our federal programs. We also worked to eliminate income limits from student loan calculations so families in Connecticut and other Northeastern states, who earn more but who also have a much higher cost of living than other regions, were able to get the same access to student aid as those in the rest of the country. Protecting our values Over the past six years, I have dedicated much of my time in the Senate to helping parents who are concerned about the culture of violence and vulgarity surrounding our children and eating away at our common values. Here is a list of some of the things we have focused on: V-Chip. Four years ago we passed legislation that I helped write to provide parents with new tools to regain control of their television sets, through the V-chip blocking technology and a new rating system designed to work with it. The V-chip is now included in every new TV on the market. Silver Sewer Award. In an effort to persuade and even shame the entertainment industry into drawing some lines, I joined with former Education Secretary Bill Bennett to create the Silver Sewer Award, a dishonor bestowed upon the nation's worst cultural polluters. Public Interest Standard. Most recently I joined with John McCain and two other Senators in calling on the FCC to look at the declining programming standards of broadcast television and to consider whether local stations are meeting their legal obligations to serve the public interest. We also urged the FCC to consider the merits of bringing back a voluntary code of conduct to better protect the public interest. Video Game Violence. At the end of my first term we held the first Congressional hearings on the threat posed by violent video games, and persuaded the industry to adopt a self-enforced rating system to better inform parents about the games their kids are playing. More recently we won an agreement from the arcade industry to limit the access of young children to the most violent coin-operated games and to reduce the amount of violence in their new machines. Youth Violence. In the wake of the Columbine tragedy and the other horrific school massacres, Senator John McCain and I introduced legislation to help us better understand what is causing so many kids to kill. It would create a national commission on youth violence, stocked with experts, to examine the many possible causes and issue recommendations on what we as a country can do to reduce the threat of more school shootings. FTC Investigation. Not only is our popular culture overwhelmed with violent images, but now there are reports indicating that a number of media companies are actually targeting the sale of heavily-violent movies, video games, and music to children. In response to those troubling reports, the Senate passed legislation that I helped write that called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the marketing practices of these entertainment industries, to determine to what extent they are selling violence to our kids. Protecting the Environment One of the reasons I was first elected to the Senate in 1988 was my strong commitment to protecting Connecticut's valuable natural resources. In the years since, I have tried to uphold that commitment by fighting for federal funding to preserve more of the state's priceless open space and strengthen the laws protecting the air we breathe, the waters we swim and fish in, and the heritage we cherish. Long Island Sound. In my first term in the Senate, we passed legislation to establish an EPA office in Connecticut dedicated to cleaning up the Sound. After many years of fighting to obtain more federal funding, this year we won Senate approval For a 10-fold increase in federal money for the Sound clean-up effort. We also won approval for a $13 million disaster relief package for Sound lobstermen devastated by the recent massive die-off. Clean Air. I had the honor of helping to draft the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Over the last several years we have turned back a number of efforts to weaken those critical protections. Last year we blocked an attempt to undermine the Justice Department's ability to hold Midwest power plants polluting the Northeast accountable for violating emissions standards. We also blocked an attempt to cut funding for two important air quality protection programs. Connecticut River. In my first term we also passed legislation to create the Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, and since then we have secured millions of dollars in funding to develop that conservation corridor. We also won federal support for Hartford's Riverfront Recapture project to help reconnect the city to the river. And in 1998, we persuaded the President to designate the Connecticut River as one of 14 American Heritage Rivers, which will mean more focused federal resources in the future. McKinney Wildlife Refuge. Another law we passed in my first term created a wildlife refuge along the Long Island Sound in Fairfield County. Since then we have secured millions of dollars to expand the size of the refuge and protect more of the Sound coastline from Greenwich to Stratford. Weir Farm. Another milestone of my first term was passing legislation to establish the state's first National Park site at Weir Farm on the Ridgefield/Wilton line, the homestead of the world-renowned artist J. Alden Weir. Building on that success, we passed legislation in 1998 to provide additional funding to build a visitor center and art gallery and improve public access. Faulkner's Island. In 1996, we successfully gained federal recognition for the historic Faulkner's Island Lighthouse. In the following years we secured federal funding to protect the Island's shoreline and the lighthouse from the threat of erosion. # # #