[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              UNHEALTHY KIDS DO NOT MAKE A STRONG AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, I am sure that many of my Republican 
colleagues were busy this past weekend, as were by colleagues on the 
Democratic side of the aisle. I wish some of my Republican colleagues 
who have proposed these cuts in programs might have accompanied me on 
my trip through Illinois.
  My first stop was at a convention in Chicago sponsored by the 
Illinois Education Association, one of the largest groups of teachers 
in our State. Almost a thousand teachers met for a 3- or 4-day 
conference in Chicago to talk about issues on their mind.
  I sat down for breakfast in Chicago with Gary Jones, a high school 
teacher in Troy, and Cindy Klickna from Springfield, IL, and I said, 
``What is different about this convention?'' And they said, ``The 
budget moved through quickly and we are glad to see that. But there is 
another thing that started coming up in the course of these 
conversations which is becoming more and more popular.'' And I said, 
``What is that?'' And they said, ``Security in schools.''
  Teachers who for years have been meeting and talking, scarcely talked 
about the question of security of teachers and students in schools. But 
now it has become an issue of paramount importance, not only in the 
city of Chicago but across the State.
  All of us understand as we read in the newspaper about violence among 
kids. Children bringing knives and guns to school. Unfortunate and 
tragic incidents involving injury and death, schoolchildren one to 
another and threats to teachers. This is today's reality.
  The reason why this is relevant is that this week on this floor of 
this House of Representatives we will be considering a Republican 
rescission bill, which is a spending cut bill, which will cut money for 
what is known as Safe and Drug-Free Schools. Money that we have put 
into a special account in the Federal Government to give to school 
districts to figure out ways to make if safer for our children and 
grandchildren to go to school.
  I wish we didn't have to do this. I wish we could put the money into 
computers and teachers. But every
 one of us knows in our heart of hearts that more than anything we want 
our kids coming home at the end of the day safe. Safe. And yet we are 
going to cut millions of dollars out of that.

  The Republicans believe this is thoughtful; this is sensible. They 
don't think this investment is necessary. I wish a few of them could 
sit down with the teachers in today's schools who will tell you that 
taking the weapons out of schools, stopping the fighting in schools, 
and ending the drugs that are starting to permeate all of our kids' 
culture is really the key to security and the key to America's future 
and readiness.
  I went back to Springfield, IL, which is in my district, and had 
another meeting and this meeting consisted of people representing the 
WIC Program, day-care homes, and school lunch programs. My friend the 
gentleman from Ohio, Sherrod Brown, has talked about the school lunch 
program. I will not dwell on it.
  At that meeting we talked a lot about what day care means to working 
mothers and fathers. A young couple in their 20's came in to see me 
with their children; one was 3 and another in a toddler seat. Both of 
them are working, and that is not unusual in America today, and they 
depend on quality day care to take care of their kids while they are 
off to work.
  The Republican proposal on welfare reform is going to cut the 
nutrition grants which we give to day-care centers and homes across 
America. This is in the name of saving money. What these families told 
me was: Congressman, if the cost of day care gets up too high, it does 
not make sense to work. We are working to pay day care. We want to 
work. We want to pay taxes and we want to improve our lives and buy our 
homes and prepare for our future. But do not make an additional burden 
on day care, which is literally going to pull the plug on a lot of 
working families.
  In Quincy, a week ago, there was a woman working 45 hours a week in 
fast food who had her daughter in day care who said, ``If you are going 
to raise my day care bill 20 percent, I have to stop and really think 
does this make sense anymore?''
  In the midst of a welfare debate we should be encouraging people to 
work. We should be helping them to stay on the job. We should not be 
increasing the overhead costs of going to work.
  The same thing is true on the WIC Program. Here is a program which is 
a dramatic success--40 percent--40 percent of the infants in America 
are in our Federal WIC Program. And you know why it is such a big 
program? It works.
  We have dropped the infant death rate in America. It should go even 
lower, but we have dropped it dramatically because we bring in pregnant 
mothers. You meet early on with a counselor who says, ``Here are the 
things you should put in your diet to have a healthy baby. And here are 
the things to avoid: Alcohol, narcotics and tobacco, especially.''
  And it works. We know it works. It is a proven success. And yet, the 
Republicans are coming in with their new vision of America to cut out 
these programs and reduce the amount of money we put in them. You know 
when we are going pay for that cut? Generations to come. Unhealthy kids 
do not build a strong America. We have got to stick with the programs 
that work. And I hope my Republican colleagues will get back to their 
districts and take a look around.


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