The Public Record
Tom Harkin is a former U.S. Senator from Iowa who served from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Harkin was known for his advocacy on disability rights and health care reform. He played a significant role in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and was a strong proponent of mental health services and education initiatives. Throughout his tenure, Harkin focused on issues affecting working families and rural communities in Iowa.
This amendment all but eliminates the National Endowment for the Arts. In other words, it eliminates a Federal role. I believe the Senator from Texas is well-intentioned. However, the result would be disastrous for the arts. NEA national…
let me just say that we have a lot of budding artists in Iowa, a lot of them musicians. I can tell you, when the Chamber Music of America came out and spent 2 years in our small towns, it was wonderful. These wonderful artists went to…
Again, Mr. President, if the Senator from Missouri was really serious, I am sure that he could have found out that in March of this year the National Endowment for the Arts wrote a letter to the director, who put out this book, I guess…
I only responded because the Senator raised the issue. He was saying, questioning me, that was I saying all these great ones all received NEA grants. I would say no. But I think the question I asked was how many more were out there that…
I rise now to pay tribute to a great friend of mine, a close personal friend and someone who has added significantly to the Senate and the House over the course of almost an entire adult lifetime of work and, moreover, who has added to…
I appreciate what he just said about Bobby Silverstein. Senator Jim Jeffords has always been in the forefront assuring that people with disabilities have their full constitutional and civil rights in this country.
I will respond to my friend this way. That is true. We have had a lot of great poets and writers who received no NEA grants. How many more, though, were out there in the little towns of Missouri, in the fields of Iowa, around the coal…
If the Senator from Missouri would like, I am sure that we could sign him up for People For the American Way, and he could get the correct information as to what is going on and not the false information that he got from the so-called…
He'll find people like John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor, Jane Smiley, who just wrote the wonderful book ``A Thousand Acres'' and won a Pulitzer Prize for it. It is now being made into a movie. Writers…
I just had a long conversation on the phone with Jorie Graham, the poet from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, who won the Pulitzer Prize last year. She told me without that NEA grant--she had a little child--she would not have been…
the pending legislation increases funding for Head Start by $324 million and directs that 10 percent of the fiscal year 1998 increase be dedicated for further expansion of the Early Head Start Program which serves children from 0-3 years…
It is our intention to support programs which provide such essential drug abuse prevention services to youth. It strikes me that the Crow Creek Youth Center meets that criteria, and I join with my colleagues in encouraging the Secretary to…
I just have a sense that some people may have voted on this and not understood exactly what was going on in terms of stripping away all of these measures and taking away the prohibition that we had in the past to limit how much could be…
I, too, fully concur with Senator Daschle's assessment. NCI must not forsake this important opportunity to expand its breast cancer research agenda. I anticipate that NIH and NCI will give this critical avenue of research every…
Providing crucial early detection and diagnostic screening services to uninsured women is a high priority for me. It is essential that women who are diagnosed with breast cancer through our efforts are not abandoned without hope of…
I also recognize the value of a comprehensive research strategy aimed at detecting, preventing and treating osteoporosis, and I encourage NIAMS and AHCPR to give this research every consideration as they make their fiscal year 1998 funding…
As the chairman knows, this bill includes funding for the National Mediation Board [NMB] which is responsible for mediating labor-management disputes in the railroad and airline industries under the Railway Labor Act [RLA]. To help meet…
I join with my colleague, my chairman, Senator Specter, in commending, first of all, the staff for all the wonderful work they did in pulling this bill together. I especially want to thank Craig Higgins, Bettilou Taylor, Jack Chow, Jim…
I also agree that it was our intention to fund the program at $225,000 this fiscal year, and I comment the National Student-Parent Mock Election program of its continued success.
the latest bad news for the B-2 bomber program is a GAO report that describes some serious shortfalls with the planes stealth features. Specifically, the aircraft is more sensitive to climate and exposure than expected. The B-2 requires…
I understand that, but it is a maximum of $5 million in any regard. Now, this has to do with attorney's fees paid in connection with a State recovering money. This does not have to do with the so-called proposed big settlement that is…
Again, I understand and I appreciate the Senator pointing that out. Mississippi made an agreement, Florida has made an agreement, maybe there will be a couple of other States that make agreements, what if later on we make a global…
The United States has for years been a leader in refugee protection. Since 1975, over 2 million refugees have resettled in the United States. The Refugee Act is the core of U.S. refugee policy. This act sets out the criteria for persons to…
for many years, I have worked to identify and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare Program. Senator Specter and I have held hearing after hearing and released report after report through our subcommittee. And along the way, we…
As I understand it, this election has not been certified. That has been brought out in the debate, and therefore we are still operating under the election of this year. As I understand it further, the Senator can correct me if I am wrong…
Politicians like Tom Harkin
