[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 125 (Thursday, September 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H10368-H10369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             EDUCATION CUTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barton of Texas). Under a previous order 
of theHouse, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week while out on the campaign 
trail Republican Presidential candidate Bob Dole claimed that if he 
were elected President, he would make education the cornerstone of his 
administration policy. I want to warn the American people to beware--
the Republicans, led by the dormant Presidential campaign of Bob Dole, 
are once again trying to convince the American people that their agenda 
to reduce funding for Federal education programs and restrict access to 
higher education is the way to strengthen the country's educational 
system.
  One need only to look at the Republican's record on education in the 
104th Congress to come to the conclusion that there objective is 
exactly the opposite of what Bob Dole says it is. In short, it is 
abundantly clear that Republicans who run Congress are determined to 
destroy the quality of education in America.
  During last year's budget negotiations, the Republicans tried to 
blackmail the Nation into accepting their extremist budgetary agenda by 
forcing repeated Government shutdowns. Two times they succeeded in 
shutting the Government down, and both times Democrats in the Congress 
and President Clinton stood firm, telling the Republicans we would not 
allow them to gut education.
  The Republicans, however, have not given up. With just a few weeks 
left before Congress adjourns for the remainder of the year, the 
Republicans, with Bob Dole's blessing, are yet again pushing an 
education agenda that would restrict access to higher education in this 
country by gutting student assistance programs. It's the same old 
story: Republicans are protecting the ability of the wealthy to send 
their children to college at the same time they limit the ability 
average American parents to send their children to college.
  The latest Republican plan resumes attack on the most important 
student assistance programs for middle- and low-income families. 
TheHouse's bill allows for a mere 1.2-percent increase in the maximum 
Pell grant award as compared to the President's budget request. This 
lack of funding would serve 191,000 fewer students next year and 2.7 
million fewer between 1997 and 2002.
  The Republican plan also eliminates the Federal contribution to the 
fund for Perkins Loans thereby denying low-interest loans to 96,000 
students in the coming school year. TheHouse's education bill also 
effectively realizes a long-time Republican objective of decimating the 
Direct Loan Program by capping the number of direct loans through a 
reduction in funds to administer the program. In addition, Republicans 
are also proposing to eliminate the AmeriCorps Program, which allows 
individuals to earn rewards for higher education in exchange for 
community service.
  On the other hand, Democrats in Congress and President Clinton have 
truly been promoting a plan to expand educational opportunity 
throughout the 104th Congress. The administration and WhiteHouse have 
joined together to fashion the Families First agenda--a plan that will 
not only increase the minimum level of education obtained by the 
average citizen, but assist them in obtaining it. The Democrats want to 
provide American families with a $10,000 tax deduction for college and 
job training--under this plan families will be able to deduct up to 
$10,000 from their taxes for tuition at college graduate school or job 
training programs.
  Democrats are also proposing to provide a $1,500 tax credit for the 
first 2 years of college for students who are prepared to work hard, 
keep a B average, and stay off drugs. This proposal will, moreover, 
help strengthen our education system by providing assistance to 
students to help them obtain at least 2 years of postsecondary 
education or through the assistance could also be used to get a good 
start on tuition at a 4-year college.
  In short, Democrats have not only proposed expanding traditional 
student assistance programs as opposed to the Republicans, who have 
voted time and again to cut these programs; we have also developed new 
educational plans to ensure that the dream of a college education does 
not reside exclusively in the domain of America's wealthiest citizens. 
So when Bob Dole promises to make education the centerpiece of his 
administration, I would say watch out, because that means the budget ax 
is coming and access will be diminished.
  Mr. Speaker, we can only hope that at some point the extremist 
Republican forces in Congress will realize that the American people 
will reject

[[Page H10369]]

their radical plan to gut education, health, and the environment no 
matter how many forms it takes, and no matter how many times they try. 
If they do not realize it now, they certainly will in November.

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