[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 125 (Monday, July 31, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                             EDUCATION CUTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Martinez] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise the same as Mrs. Mink in vehement 
opposition to the new majority's Labor, HHS, and Education 
appropriation bill. It is a bill that is so bad that we should not even 
try to amend it, even if we could, because I do not believe there are 
any amendments that could improve it, so let it come to the floor just 
the way it is and show the American people what the new majority is 
really all about.
  Some have come to this floor and said that the new majority are mean 
spirited. Mr. Speaker, this goes beyond mean spirited. The Labor HHS 
bill is a cold-blooded attack on the American dream.
  It is especially damaging for those at the very bottom of the ladder. 
The cuts in education are at the very heart of the American dream. 
Education has always been a plus, something to laud, in America. 
Without education, would we have had the major technical advancements 
that we have known? That came from people that were well educated in 
this country? I doubt it.
  I do not believe even in the past people like George Washington 
Carver, who gave us more than just the development of so many things 
from the peanut, would have had the advantages that he did later in his 
life after he received the formal education.
  Mr. Speaker, education, to me, has been at the heart of every 
advancement of our Great Society. The new majority cuts and slashes. 
Their cut-and-slash tactics cut everything. They cut education, a 
second chance for people. They say they want everyone to speak English. 
Where do they think adults are going to learn English? They are going 
to learn in school.
  They are slashing a program so that adults have to wait in line to 
get into the ESL classes. Community-based organizations, which take up 
much of the slack, are already short of funds to provide services, and 
the bill is cutting their aid even further.
  Even though the Federal Government contributes only a small 
percentage of the education money that is spent in this country, they 
want to take that away.
  With this legislation, Congress is ignoring the national leadership 
role that it has. When local school boards all over the country are 
having hard times paying for their schools, this bill is denying the 
very little help we do give. The no-tax phobia has school districts 
around the country desperate for funds. If we do not help, no one will.
  Initiatives like California's proposition 13 and the two-thirds 
requirement for any new increase in funds for schools handcuff the 
ability of communities to implement a bond measure to raise taxes for 
those needs that they believe are priorities like schools.
  Mr. Speaker, I have never been offended by taxes as long as the 
revenue is spent well.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe we must grow up and the new majority must grow 
up and face the responsibility for a sensible society. Without taxes, 
there would be no local law enforcement, no local fire safety, no local 
sewage treatment, no health and safety protections. Taxes are a part of 
a civilized society.
  If we think we have it bad, we ought to look at some of our 
neighboring countries. Some nations have more onerous taxes than we 
will ever have, but they do not have the advancements in technology 
that we do.
  Taxes are a sacrifice made to investment in our country.
  We hear our colleagues every day come to this floor and say, we have 
to run Congress like a business. I was in business for many years, but 
I got into politics and I saw other businesses around me fail because 
they would not make the sacrifice that we need to make to make an 
investment in our business. Well, we are now giving a tax break to the 
rich at the expense of an investment in the programs for the poor of 
our country.
  The Labor, HHS, education bill is a disinvestment in the future of 
the children of this Nation that is irrational and unfair. Mr. Speaker, 
what has happened to the promise of a brighter tomorrow, a kinder and 
gentler America that we heard about not so long ago, a future for our 
children that people, and especially politicians, love to make in 
speeches?


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