[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 54 (Thursday, March 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3717-H3718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            VICTIMS OF THE REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, last Friday in Duluth, in my congressional 
district, I met with a group of people I can only describe as victims 
of the Republican contract: College students who will lose their 
financial aid; poor, elderly people who will lose their home heating 
assistance; elementary school children who will lose their school lunch 
and school milk programs; and foster grandparents who work with 
disadvantaged youth.
                              {time}  2200

  Then at the end of the day, late that evening I got a phone call from 
my son Ted, A graduate student in theology, saying he would lose his 
summer job if the Republican cuts are enacted.
  Let me tell you about Ted. He is a Notre Dame graduate with a double 
major in theology and great books.
  Following graduation, he committed a year to volunteer service at a 
job placement center for the homeless, Saint Joseph the Worker in 
Phoenix, AZ, living with five other Notre Dame graduates on $60 a 
month. And on weekends he volunteered in youth ministry at a 
neighborhood parish.
  Ted then spent 2 years in campus ministry at Sacramento State 
University and is now in his second year of 
 [[Page H3718]] study towards a master's degree in theology. His career 
goal is community service. He wants to work to make life better for the 
less fortunate of our brothers and sisters.
  The accumulation of material goods has never been an objective for 
Ted. He worked hard on construction jobs and other jobs to earn his way 
through college and last year, to help pay his graduate school cost, 
Ted worked at a summer youth job program funded by one of the programs 
the Republicans propose to cut or eliminate with their cuts last week 
and those yet to come.
  I want to take a close look at this program. He worked with 160 
disadvantaged young people, 40 special ed children with learning and 
developmental disabilities, providing them with academic enrichment and 
physical development help. He also worked with another group of 120 
kids who test below a grade level, are out of school and out of work. 
His job, teach them how to fill out job applications, how to interview 
on the phone and in person for jobs, and work with them to improve 
their basic academic skills.
  If the Republican cuts prevail, there are going to be 161 losers this 
summer. The next group of 160 kids and Ted.
  Society will be victimized because these young people will be denied 
an opportunity to become productive members of our economy.
  By the way, Ted's wife Julie, who teaches children with learning 
disabilities, was planning to do her masters thesis on this project to 
demonstrate how such a program can be a model curriculum for special ed 
student's enrichment and move them to jobs and work.
  I raise this personal story because I think it is important to put 
flesh and blood on the statistics we deal with, to put a face on the 
numbers and to translate the issues into tangible reality. And 
sometimes that reality hurts personally.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Nebraska, [Mr. Bereuter] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  [Mr. BEREUTER addressed the House. His remarks will appear hereafter 
in the Extensions of Remarks.]


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