[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 194 (Thursday, December 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H14179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL AMERICANS

  (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to voice my 
concerns over the education and job training cuts of $4.5 billion in 
the majority party's proposed budget.
  Yes, Mr. Speaker, $4.5 billion taken out of the national education 
budget to cover the tax breaks for our corporate welfare community. I 
am a firm believer in education and its role in our society, and I have 
seen the success of such programs as vocational education, national 
student loans, and school-to-job training programs.
  Mr. Speaker, take this away from our children and our dislocated 
workers, our working families, and we place ourselves back into a 
recession, an education recession.
  I honestly believe, Mr. Speaker, that this institution has an 
obligation to this Nation to make education affordable to everyone. We 
have an obligation to this Nation to make education accessible to 
everyone. We need only to examine the benefits of the GI educational 
law that offered educational opportunities for the hundreds of 
thousands of GI's, who would not have obtained college education if 
this program was not provided by the Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe all Americans should go into the 21st century 
with every opportunity to succeed. I believe we should give all 
Americans an opportunity to enhance their skills, further obtain 
educational knowledge to prepare themselves adequately for the job 
market.
  If you take away this opportunity--you cut the chances for anyone to 
succeed. You make it that much more difficult to the average person to 
make ends meet.
  I urge my colleagues to think seriously about the ramifications of 
this $4.5 billion cut to education and job-training programs and give 
our children, families a break for the future.

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