[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H8069-H8070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONCERNS REGARDING EFFECTS OF LABOR-HHS APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Kildee] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express some very grave 
concerns regarding the devastating effects that the Labor-HHS 
appropriations will have on public education in America, and that 
despite the great efforts of my good friend, Chairman John Porter.
  Since November of last year, we have been engaged in a robust and 
very healthy debate about the proper role of the Federal Government in 
the economic and social life of our country. In 

[[Page H8070]]
that debate, I continue to be guided by the words of one of this 
Nation's great humanitarians, the former Vice President of the United 
States, Hubert Humphrey, who said, ``The moral test of government is 
how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children, those 
who are in the twilight of life, the elderly, and those who are in the 
shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.''
  This bill, which we will take up this week, Mr. Speaker, I believe 
represents a monumental failure of this test. Over the next 7 years, it 
will cut education and training $36 billion.
  Now, my Republican friends are fond of saying that this is a plan 
that will reward future generations. But what about this generation, 
the children in Head Start, the children in title I, the children in 
the kindergartens and first grades of this country? What price will 
they pay, Mr. Speaker? And what price will we as a nation pay for this 
failure of vision?
  Mr. Speaker, I have served on this committee with responsibility for 
the children and workers of this country for 18 years, and during that 
time, particularly in the field of education, Republicans and Democrats 
have worked together on common ground to strengthen the basic fabric of 
this complex and diverse Nation. We have worked to provide 
opportunities for those willing to use the tools of education and work 
to achieve the rewards of American citizenship.
  Education has always risen above partisanship as a shared priority, 
and it is sad, Mr. Speaker, to say that I believe this bill breaks that 
covenant between Democrats and Republicans.


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