[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 4, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE REPUBLICANS' PROPOSED BUDGET WILL SEVERELY UNDERCUT THE OPPORTUNITY 
                FOR AMERICA'S CHILDREN TO ATTEND COLLEGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California [Ms. Lofgren] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I don't have a chart about tax cuts, and I 
do not plan to give a talk about tax cuts specifically, today, except 
that we have talked a lot about the need to help the middle class, and 
there is a big argument on whether this tax cut really helps the middle 
class or just the wealthy.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about something that really is 
important to the middle class and to the working families of this 
country. That is the chance to make sure that your child can go to 
college after they got straight A's in high school. That opportunity is 
about to be severely undercut.
  The plans in the works are to cut about $20 billion in student loans 
over the next 5 years, as well as 750,000 students off the work study 
program.
                              {time}  1900

  I would argue that these cuts are unwise, they are pennywise and 
pound foolish. We know that we have a lot of problems in this country, 
but when I think about the problems that I see in San Jose, the kids 
that are getting in trouble, I know that there are not kids hanging out 
on the street corner dealing drugs or holding weapons when they are on 
the honor roll.
  In our country, I was on the county board of supervisors in Santa 
Clara County until January 4 of this year and I can attest that there 
is not a single ``A'' student in the juvenile hall. The more we put 
into education, the more we put into achievement for our young people, 
the more we will see problems resolved and a country that is full of 
excellence and hope instead of despair. I think the cuts that are 
proposed in the student loan program have a lot to do with that and I 
am hearing about the middle-class cuts and the $500 per family and how 
that will help. I am cognizant that the cut per student that is 
proposed for 4 years of undergraduate education is about $5,000, and if 
you have 2 kids, as is common, going to college, that is over $10,000 
in cuts that you are looking at as a family. The $500 is not going to 
make it. It will take 21 years of $500 tax credits to make it up. I 
know. My children are 10 and 13. I do not have 21 years to save up that 
money at that rate.
  I heard the Speaker say that we should be a country of excellence, we 
should be a country that rewards those who work hard and try to get 
ahead, and I think back on my own life and the opportunities that this 
country gave to me.
  I worked the night shift in a factory in my last year in high school. 
My parents were working people, they were great people, but they did 
not have a lot of money. We just barely made ends meet. Through working 
and through student loans and through scholarships, I was able to go to 
college and I was able to have a part of America that I would not have 
had otherwise.
  I remember several years ago I was out visiting Overfelt High School 
in east San Jose, an area that educates the children of blue-collar 
families, working families, and I gave a talk to three combined classes 
and encouraged them to get A's in school and look ahead and go to 
college, and then I left. About 2 years later, I was invited back and I 
was talking to the students and afterwards a young girl came up to me 
and she said, ``You changed my life.'' I was shocked. I did not 
remember her. She said, ``You told me I could go to college and not to 
worry about how to pay for it. I have just been admitted to the 
University of California, I am going to major in physics and here is my 
honor roll.'' She got on the honor roll because she believed if she 
worked, if she got A's she would have a chance to go to college. That 
is what this country has been all about and that is what a $20 billion 
cut in student loans will destroy.
  We say that we are for the middle class. If we are for the middle 
class, let's take care of the thing that matters most to each of us and 
that is our children. Along with that, I think about the benefit for 
this country. After World War II, a whole generation of men were given 
the opportunity to go to college through the GI bill. At the time, it 
was looked upon as a benefit for veterans, but in fact in addition to a 
benefit for veterans, it was a benefit for the country, because a whole 
group of people whose parents were not rich had the chance to get an 
education, and those people became engineers, they became scientists 
and they built Silicon Valley and the affluence that they built through 
their education carried the economy of this country to this day.
  If we were to put that kind of emphasis on the middle class, on the 
children, on the future, and our need to develop high-technology jobs 
and a highly skilled work force, we would not have to be worrying about 
the deficit or the future.
  What we need to do is to invest in the future, and I would argue this 
and relate this story. A gentleman came to me in San Jose 2 weeks ago 
and said, ``Don't give me a tax break. Put it all in education. Let's 
give this country a future.''


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