[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 50 (Friday, March 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4131-S4132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ABOLISHING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, in recent days three of the announced 
candidates for President on the Republican side have announced their 
intention and commitment to eliminate the Federal Department of 
Education if they are elected. In my view, Mr. President, that is a sad 
commentary on the priorities that some of those in leadership positions 
have in this country today.
  I remember when President Reagan ran in 1980, part of his platform 
was to eliminate the Federal Department of Education. I thought the 
suggestion was misguided at that time. I strongly believe that it is 
even more misguided here in 1995. This is the last decade of 
[[Page S4132]] the 20th century, the information age, and yet there are 
those who are falling over themselves trying to take education off the 
national agenda.
  This retreat from leadership in perhaps the most critical area of our 
national interest--education--is clearly wrongheaded. Overwhelmingly, 
Americans tell pollsters that education is one of their major concerns. 
Over 80 percent of Americans say they support a Federal Department of 
Education. And it is not surprising that they do. Americans recognize 
that education is central to the strength of our Nation, especially as 
information becomes the most valuable currency in the world.
  When ``A Nation At Risk,'' the report issued by former Secretary of 
Education under President Reagan, Terrel Bell, appeared in 1983 it 
commented on the poor state of American education by observing, ``If an 
unfriendly foreign power had imposed our schools upon us, we would have 
regarded it as an act of war.''
  The analogy to national security was appropriate then, and I believe 
it is still appropriate. Our security, whether you define it in 
economic terms or in military terms, is absolutely dependent upon the 
quality of the education that we provide to our children and to our 
citizens.
  How can we have a national interest in agriculture but not in our 
children? How can we talk about our industrial strength and not talk 
about the education of our work force? We do not question the 
Department of Defense, but what about the know-how that our people need 
to staff that Department?
  Still, as we approach this new century, there are those who say that 
education is purely a State and local matter; let us get the Federal 
Government out of it; let us eliminate the Secretary of Education, get 
that person out of the President's Cabinet.
  Mr. President, I have seen in the last few years the proposed 
elevation of the EPA to Cabinet status, which I have supported. The 
Department of Veterans Affairs we now have in the Cabinet; clearly, I 
support that. That is an important priority for the country.
  I now read in the paper that we are going to have the CIA in the 
President's Cabinet. That also may be an appropriate thing to do. But 
to suggest that we should have each of those individuals in the Cabinet 
next to our President to set national policy but not have a Secretary 
of Education there to speak up for the future of our children is, I 
think, misguided.
  Clearly, there is a priority here which we should not dissipate among 
various and sundry departments and agencies around the Federal 
Government. We need a central focus for leadership in education in this 
country. The Secretary of Education fulfills that role.
  What is that role? Ask the 7 million students who attend colleges and 
universities thanks to loans and grants provided through Department of 
Education programs. The Department supplies 75 percent of all post-
secondary student aid, continuing a national commitment dating back to 
the GI bill.
  Or ask the 6 million disadvantaged students who each year receive 
help through Federal programs to meet higher academic standards. Ask 
their parents. Ask their teachers. Scores on the National Assessment of 
Educational Progress, the national test administered by the States and 
the Department of Education, show that the gap between the achievement 
scores of white and black students has decreased by about 40 percent 
since 1975. The narrowing of that gap coincides with the very 
significant Federal investment in K-12 education for the disadvantaged.
  The combination of the Federal investment in these students plus 
leadership from the department which has sought for several years, from 
Secretary Bell through our current Secretary, Secretary Riley, to 
encourage high standards for all students in our schools--that 
combination is bringing about more equality of educational results and 
improved results for all of our students.
  Ask the teachers and the administrators in the States about the value 
of Department of Education's work. Its research and dissemination of 
the results of that research are immensely helpful to local schools and 
districts. Now that schools are coming on line and becoming 
technologically more sophisticated, teachers can access information 
about the newest techniques, materials, and research, straight from 
their own desks or their own faculty rooms and obtain that information 
to a large extent through the Department of Education.
  Ask American business whether they want national leadership to 
improve education in this country. I have heard business leaders in my 
State say over and over again that there is an unbreakable link between 
our Nation's economic competitiveness and the quality of our 
educational system. Our global competitors are doing a better job in 
many cases of preparing their young people for this new technologically 
rich and information-laden future than we are. We obviously need 
national leadership to help States provide their students with what it 
takes to compete in this new world.
  As we go into the next century we face numerous challenges. We will 
have a growing population of young people as we hit the echo from the 
baby boom. We will continue to have many young immigrants. Many of the 
children I am speaking about will be born into poverty. They will speak 
languages other than English. Technology will continue to change the 
way that people work and the way people learn. The increased demands of 
a global economy will make it imperative that we provide high standards 
to our children and assessments to measure their progress toward 
meeting those standards.
  States want and deserve Federal help and Federal leadership to meet 
these challenges.
  I am especially aware of the need for strong Federal leadership in 
the area of technology for education. Only through leadership at the 
national level can we have a coordinated effort to bring the benefits 
of telecommunication and the computer revolution to all our schools and 
all our students.
  States are struggling with these issues. They welcome the help and 
expertise the Department of Education has been able to bring.
  I just went through a campaign this fall. I traveled all over my 
State of New Mexico. I talked to many thousands of people. I heard lots 
of complaints about the Congress, complaints about the Federal 
Government, and about State government, and about local government, and 
many other things people found objectionable. But I did not hear the 
voters saying they wanted less attention to education, less funding for 
education, less of a Federal role or less priority given to that 
important area. I heard quite the opposite. The American public sees 
education as having been neglected at all levels of government.
  As I have traveled around New Mexico during the last several years--
not just in the last campaign--I have asked folks at town hall meetings 
to express their opinions as to how much of our Federal budget they 
believe is committed to improving education. Usually people in the 
audience guess somewhere in the 10 to 15 percent range. Mr. President, 
they would guess that 10 to 15 percent of our Federal budget is 
probably committed to education. When I tell them that less than 2 
percent of our Federal resources each year goes to support education at 
the national level, it is something of a surprise and a disappointment 
to a lot of the people in my State.
  If some want to walk away from the Federal responsibility for 
education they certainly have that option, but I believe taking 
education off our national agenda and taking the Secretary of Education 
out of the President's Cabinet, will be sending exactly the wrong 
signal not only to the people of this country but throughout the world. 
That is the wrong message.
  Our future lies with our young people. I know that is a cliche but it 
is the truth. A Federal Department of Education can help us prepare our 
young people for that future. It is the right priority for this country 
as we approach this new century. I hope very much we will retain the 
Department of Education for a very long time.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

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