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Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Two. You mhm. Hello, I'm Senator Lawton Child's and I want to welcome you to the Lawton Child's update. We're gonna visit today with three different groups of people. The one thing they all have in common is that they're involved with issues important to our life in this country.

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A while back, I had a chance to visit with a group of grade school Children to talk about a topic that touches all of us in one way or another. Drugs. They had written me to ask what they could do to help fight the problem, and their letters led to federal legislation.

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I think you'll see from the questions they ask that our kids carry very much and they want to know more about the campaign to get drugs out of all of our lives. During a visit to Orlando, I stopped by the Naval Systems Training Center. I saw our military personnel get high tech instruction and methods of national defense.

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They train hard, they know their jobs, and it's something I want to share with you. Our first story is about another group of people with all sorts of different opinions on the subject you'll be hearing plenty about in the days ahead. The federal budget This year, the budget submitted by the president topped the trillion dollar mark.

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That's an almost inconceivable figure that represents both the power and the hopes of the whole country. Since January, when the president proposed the budget, we've examined it from every angle, and we've asked hundreds of questions and we weighed all the options. We spent that time getting ready to make some judgments on the content of the budget that we bring before the full Senate for debate.

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With the hearings behind us, we took the first big step. It's called markup. What that means is that the committee gets together to literally mark up, to edit, to revise, to change or to hammer out a budget plan one piece at a time. As the committee began this basic work, we were all aware of the grueling job ahead of us.

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As chairman of the Budget Committee, I sort of set the stage, Uh, we've had some 17 hearings, we heard from over 40 witnesses, and I think we we pretty well know the problems now, and we're here today to start working on some of the answers. We start off with 100 and $8 billion target.

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We know that, according to our CBO estimates at the White House, budget has missed that target by about $26 billion. We know that historically, we missed the first Gramm Rudman Hollings target by a $49 billion in the first year, and last year we missed the second target by some $32 billion.

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That figure is not locked in stone yet. We may miss it more than that, but probably at least $32 billion. But we start off attempting to see whether we can get to the 108. I note that there is some conversation that the Democrats are in control now.

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So, uh, let's let them produce the budget. Let's let them walk the plank, and we're ready to start walking part of that if that's required. But I do anticipate that at some stage, and certainly fervently hope that we're going to be able to produce a bipartisan budget out of this committee.

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That was the mode and stance of which we operated on when the Democrats were in control. Uh, once before, when we started off the budget act under a musky and bellman, we then sought to participate with the Republicans during part of the first tenure. Uh, at the time, the Republicans took control and finally in the last two years, were allowed to participate and tried to be, uh, willing soldiers and good soldiers in that regard.

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And we certainly invite our, uh, Republican brothers own the committee to participate and hope and trust that they will. And, uh, if that can't start today, I look forward to the day that it it can start. But I think it's it's pretty important for the country that we, uh we try to work together, and I think that would be important for us.

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We know that we've got to have sort of a two pronged attack that is, we have to reduce the fiscal deficit if we're going to be able to make any progress on the trade deficit. In spite of the word competitiveness that everyone likes to talk about in spite of the trade bill, that we all have high hopes for the most important thing that we could do in reducing the trade deficit.

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I think all of us know, and most of the people know is to is to reduce the fiscal deficit and to do something on the fiscal deficit. And we'll be working to try to do that. We also I think I need to try to make some room for some new investment in some, plant some seeds and to try to move this country into the next century.

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Uh, things that we have to do and, uh, changing some of the structure of our education, promoting better trade and productivity and job training, even in health programs in some of those areas. Uh, I think that we have to make a start. You can't have any illusions when you have to make so many important choices.

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For the past six years, Senator Pete Domenici, Republican from New Mexico, was chairman of the Budget Committee. He was candid about the size of the job and what it would involve. At this point, However, I look forward to the mark up. I know it's going to be very difficult.

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We'll have plenty of time to discuss the various numbers during the next few weeks, and I would like, however, to suggest to you Mr Chairman, that in your opening remarks you expressed some very exciting concepts. You expressed some very admirable goals. You suggested leaving some things out, substituting some new things for old things, I think shared the concept of trading in and trading up, meaning that we obviously have some very old programs that are not as effective as some new ones might be in some old problems, some new problems that need new attention, Senator demanded.

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She told us right up front about the political differences that color the budget process. But a new member of our committee looked at the other side, telling us It's not the past we have to worry about, but the future Senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire is one of the authors of the Gramm Rudman Hollings law designed to cut the deficit.

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Senator Rudman's a former boxer. He's tough, and he's not afraid to call them like he sees him. But every witness that appeared before us said that we got to try to meet that target. We ought not to step away from it too early. I remember chairman vocal, and when he speaks, most of us listen, does he can in many ways have more effect on the economy in the short term than we can.

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Chairman Volcker said no. In an answer. In an answer to a question that I believe I posed, I'm not sure I'd want you to change the targets. Uh, I'd rather have you Mr Wanna wait by 32 missed the 1 35 by 30. The one thing I've never been afraid of, he said to this committee, was that the Congress would reduce the deficit too much.

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And I certainly share that. I have no fear of that. I think that we ought to go through this ceremonial dance. I hope we could have a minimum of scapegoating on this committee. We certainly are led by two of the ageless people, and I don't say that out of senatorial courtesy.

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It's true in the chairman and the ranking member, we have two of the most able members of the Senate. Neither one are thought to be highly vindictively partisan. I wish we had time to give more than a flavor of the way things begin, but mark up sessions may take a month or more.

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The views run the whole spectrum of concern about how to handle our current problems and our future needs. As a matter of fact, that's the core issue in the budget debate. We have to reduce the deficit at the same time we're building in investments for the future, senator.

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The minute she said, it would take the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of job to be successful. I'm afraid those are virtues beyond our reach. But success is without our ability. It's going to take hard work, cooperation, a real commitment to do what's best for the country and our next program.

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We'll check again on the status of the budget to see how things stand and what progress has been made. America defends itself with a modern, high tech arsenal. We have a 555 ship Navy, including 14 aircraft carriers with the most advanced planes in the world on board.

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The Air Force is now equipped with the B one bomber in the C five heavyweight transport, the Army's age 64 helicopter in the Marines F 18 Hornet and Harriet Jets. Combined with all of our other equipment to put us in the world forefront of national defense, we've undergone tremendous change and advancement, But with all these additions, nothing works without highly skilled and well trained people.

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Our equipment is complicated to handle, and it's expensive to operate. To hold down training costs. We've turned to low cost, high tech simulators to keep our people on top of the performance curve. The Training System Center is the Navy's principal facility for research, development and evaluation of the simulators.

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Each year, the center authorizes the purchase of about 60% or nearly a billion dollars worth of simulator equipment bought by the Navy. I stopped in Orlando to see the simulators. Inaction. Frankly, I was surprised at what I found. When most people think of simulators, they usually think of airplanes.

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So I was impressed to find work underway to train personnel in the use of the M 16 rifle, the mainstay weapon of our infantry. Instead of live ammunition. This simulator makes it possible to duplicate the way the M 16 works, right down to the recoil so marksman can pinpoint their problems.

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Computers drive the M 16 simulator just like they run the one that trains people in the operation of a cannon designed to knock out tanks with these simulators, they can reproduce all kinds of weather and terrain. The computer behind the equipment use current state of the art graphics, the same kind of high tech electronics that make movies like Star Wars so realistic trainees get a hands on field for their machinery without leaving the training center.

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That counts a lot to people who depend on their wits and skill for survival, especially the Navy pilots who have to make those hair raising carrier landings. What you're seeing now is just what a young Navy pilot sees during training, but neither you nor the pilot or looking out the canopy.

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You're looking at a simulation computers imitation of what to expect behind the controls. There aren't many mountains in Florida, but by using this electronic magic, a pilot inside a building in Pensacola can take a flight through the Grand Canyon, thanks to his simulator. Here's another example of just how sophisticated all this equipment really is.

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The simulator used here not only creates terrain for the pilot, it also lets him trigger all the actions of a real helicopter, including the weapons system. To some people, all this might look like a high Price video arcade. And it's true, running the equipment isn't cheap.

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In fact, it costs about $600 an hour, but it costs $3000 an hour to actually fly the Apache, our newest attack helicopter. That means pilots get the most realistic kind of training at 1/5 the cost in the simulator. One of the most remarkable things to come out of the Orlando Training System Center is the multiple integrated laser engagement system.

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That's a mouthful even for the experts who prefer to call the system miles. It's the Army's greatest single training advancement in the past 10 years. It allows a soldier to shoot at a target without using bullets. It's a genuine breakthrough. In fact, it's been so successful it's now being used to help train NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Europe.

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These simulators aren't just limited to military matters. Their key element of training in the space shuttle program. This device helps astronauts learn to operate the shuttle's robot arm to retrieve objects in space. This simulator has value right now, with the shuttle not expected to fly again before next year at the earliest.

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This machine helps flight crews stay in shape and top form. Besides the application we've already seen, the research done in Orlando has benefits for the private sector as well. Simulation research and development is one of Florida's prime high tech growth industries. Last year, nearly $4 billion was spent in Florida on simulators and other simulation training devices.

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Over 100 contractors, including McDonald, Douglas and General Electric, involved in the research. These instruments are an important factor in the nation's drive to regain the competitive edge in the global economy. Simulators can help retrain our workforce as technology changes requirements in the modern workplace. The Ford Motor Company now sends people to study new training and maintenance techniques in Orlando, and others are sure to follow.

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The University of Central Florida has set up an institute for simulation and training. They offer a masters in a doctor's degree in simulation studies. University is also trying to win. Endorsement is the center of excellence from the State of Florida and the Department of Defense. By 2000 and 5, 18 short years from now, officials at the university believe that more than 17,000 people will be working at the central Florida Research park.

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Florida is helping change the real world by duplicating that world in the research lab. It's a big step into the next century. And Florida's right out in front leading the parade. We'll be right back. Attention. The zoo will open in five minutes. Five minutes, please. Just five minutes.

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My lines, my lines. I can't remember my lines. Go home. My makeup, my makeup, wardrobe, I say wardrobe. How do I look? Seriously, how do I look? Hey, uh, give me a little kiss before I go on. Uh, okay, guys, this way. One way. Guys go in Melbourne.

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My lines, my life. I want to talk to my agent. Let me talk to your agent. Take it from me. Just gotta keep cool positions, everyone. Hey, No shoving way. Hey, this price is a zoo. Visit your zoo and see how the stars live. One and two.

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And when Congress passed the landmark anti drug bill last year, it was meant to help police clamped down on the pushers. But that's not all it did. An equally important aim was education. We wanted to get the word out on drugs and to let people know drugs are nothing but poison.

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It's especially important for young people to get that message. Even before Congress acted last year, I found some schoolchildren in Miami had already gotten that message. The fifth grade class at the Palmetto Elementary School in Miami had just had a brush with disaster. Just seven blocks from their school house exploded.

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People at the house had been using ether to process cocaine, either used incorrectly as potent stuff. One gallon packs the explosive power of 10 sticks of dynamite. The fifth graders wrote me to express, worry and ask what they could do about the danger of ether and the drug problem.

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Well, the 32 letters they sent me help plenty. As a result, I introduced legislation to require the U. S. Attorney general to study the chemicals used to manufacture narcotics. The letter I received from the fifth graders raised a lot of other questions. And while I was in Miami, I stopped by to say thanks and address some of the questions face to face.

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Joan Revere is the fifth grade teacher at Palmyra, and she's the one who encouraged the students to write me. Jones been involved in Dade County's drug education programs since 19 seventies. The day county school system has a very fine educational program. I happened to be a part of the initial stages that back in 1970 for elementary school Children, and each year the intermediate grades in the elementary schools are to teach a certain set objectives to the students.

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Joan felt that elementary school is where the drug education should begin. You have to because Children today, through the media, are exposed to the real world, whether it is their real world in actual living conditions or not. They see it, um, through the news media. And they see it on the television programs that they, um, watch.

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Dmitry Carter explains how the students got interested in the subject. What happened is our teacher was reading us some facts about drugs. She came over this article about how Easter clean drugs and we saw different movies. And then we started to, um um, you know, have conversations about drugs.

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And then our teacher came up with this great idea about writing to the senator for, um, about ECE and how, um, they use it the wrong way and we wrote letters and this is the outcome. When the time came for questions from the students, one of the first things to come up was how I felt about getting all their mayor Well, well, uh, when I got the first letter, you know, they sort of brought it in to me and they said here, you know, you've got this letter.

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It's kind of interesting And I read it and I said, Gee, that's interesting. What class are they in? And they started telling me, and I said, Boy, they were really interested that time. Then the letters started piling in. They said, Wait a minute, we've got some more and we got some more and we got some more and then 32 letters.

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We couldn't ignore that, you know? And we said, Well, you know, if they've dealt with this problem, if it's come to their attention, uh, we better do something about it. And so that's when I started trying to figure what could we do about it? And we decided the best thing was to get the attorney general who is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government, get him and his people to study this and see How can we monitor or come up with a way of monitoring the sale of ether or some of these other goods?

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It can be used, and we're hoping that they will come up and give us the answer for it. The students also wanted to know whether ether could be outlawed the way it is in some South American countries. I don't think we can make either illegal as such, because we use it for too many good things.

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Ether, as you know, is used anesthetics, which you're used were. It's one of the things that you use for putting people to sleep, putting animals to sleep when you're going to operate on them. Uh, we use ether in a number of compounds that are perfectly legal, so we don't want to outlaw those, but we want to keep it from being used illegally.

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Well, how do you do that? I think one way is to be able to trace the ether, for example. Uh, one of the things we try to do in tracing explosives, you know, we make gunpowder, for example, or dynamite, and some of it's used for proper purposes blow stumps out of the ground to, uh, open a canal or something, but we want to be able to trace it to see, make sure that the people are using that.

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We're using it for the right purposes. I think that's kind of what we're going to have to do with this. Either try to see that we're using it for the right purposes rather than make it illegal. Yes, sir. Is anything happening happening in other parts of the country with the Thursday you know, the parts of the country?

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I'm sure that these same labs that you all are experiencing here are taking place. They're not just in Florida. Uh, those labs are around everywhere, so I know that large quantities of ether are being used in those other places. Now, one of the things that we've done, for example, in busting some of the labs that you're talking about in in Colombia and some of those places, we've used some of our infrared photography to trace to either.

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It gives off some kind of a heat, and we've been able to use that and say, Wait a minute. There's a large quantity of heat coming from this place. It must be either, and then have some troops come in there and find out that that's where a lab was taking place.

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So it's been used for for that kind of purposes. The students wondered what I had done since first receiving their letters on the drug situation. It is. My understanding is a house blew up. How many blocks was it from here? Seven blocks from the school at the house blew up where they were.

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They had a lab there and they were using ether to to refine it and make drugs. And so we've taken that. And we've introduced legislation now to ask the attorney General within 60 days to come up with a way that we can try to keep someone from buying large quantities of either or a substance like that and turning it into using it for an illegal drug.

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So we're calling it a precursor bill, but and also Larry Smith, congressman in the House in the House from Fort Lauderdale, has introduced legislation over there. His bill is in the House Judiciary Committee, and our bill is in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We're hoping to try to get something moving on that during the Congress this year, But I want to thank you again for bringing it to our attention.

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I think that you were very right. That we need to do something about it is one of the ways of tracing where these labs are. If we can have some kind of accounting of who is buying either in large quantities and we want to try to do that.

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What got any questions yesterday? How's the building? Well, we hope that, as I say that we can get it moving right now. It's been introduced and it has to go to committees. Now see what happens is the bill is first introduced. It has to have hearings in the committee in which people coming look at the bill and determine whether they think it's drawn in the right way.

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Then the committee reports it out. If they vote on it and then it goes to the floor where it would come up for debate on the floor are Bill has to pass in both the House and the Senate. We're hoping that we can get it passed in both houses and get those bills together.

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They have to be the same, she may have to have a conference. Has it been hard convincing what passing? Well, I don't I don't think we run into any real opposition to it yet. Our biggest problem is that the committee has a lot of things to do, and it's trying to get their attention on this bill.

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In other words, they're meeting and they've got all kinds of different pieces of legislation, and that's why maybe before it's over, we may try to attach this on something else If we can't get their attention. Yes, I told the students, You can't underestimate the value of letters you write to elected officials.

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They help in two ways. First, they helped organize your viewpoints. And second, they help people in the office focus in on the problems of promotional people's minds. Tiffany Langford found out 11 year old students have a voice worth listening to. It taught me that like senators and political people can't listen to what kids say, and not only what adults say, what kids illicit drugs are filth in our society.

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They waste lives and they damage everything they touch. That's why it's so important to let people of all ages know exactly what they do to the mind and body. Joan Revere had the right idea when she pointed out. There's no giving up. If we want to win the war on drugs, you have to keep fighting.

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You try. If you gave up fighting, it would surely win. But you have to continue to fight, and I fight in the way that I can through the Children and through the future. Citizens of America. Parents like Mrs Karen Bratton visited at Palmetto that day and had their own thoughts about drugs and drug education.

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Well, I think it's absolutely very important that the education of the drug abuse problem start in elementary level. I also have a 16 year old daughter, and stories I hear are frightening. And I think the younger they are, the more they know, the better off. They're gonna be able to handle it when they get older.

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Another parent, Carole King, agreed, because at this age, now they're at the age where at the turning point of their lives, where they can go both ways where drugs can be very exciting to them. It could be something that's very impressive to them, and then again, it could be something that they can turn off.

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And I'm hoping that they're at the point now where it can turn them off. Secret drug labs are a growing minutes. The number of cocaine labs seized in the United States has gone up like a skyrocket in 1984 24 labs received. That was 121% increase over the previous year.

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Of those 24 labs, 18 were found in the district, which includes Florida. So it's a problem dangerously close to home. And right now I'm expecting a report from the Justice Department to detail the most up to date information on these secret labs. It's another dark side of an already dark problem.

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But that's why I want to express my particular thanks to the fifth graders at Palmetto Elementary School for shining some extra light on the problem. Drugs won't go away if we just pretend they aren't there. We have to act. These young people acted wisely, and I'm grateful.

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I hope you'll join me again next time for the Lawton Child's update. Mhm. Huh? Oh, mhm. Yeah, Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Okay. Mhm. Okay, people coming up on the lot and Charles Update. We'll visit 1/5 grade class in Miami to see how they've had an impact on the war on drugs.

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And we'll stop in Orlando to see how we maintain our national defense through the work of mechanical simulators. And we'll look at the Senate Budget Committee as it starts putting together the budget for the coming year. I'm Senator Lawton Child's Please join us for the next edition of the Lawton Child's Update Mhm.