[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 23 (Monday, March 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1548-S1549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         EDUCATION AND CHILDREN

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I am not quite sure what our schedule 
will be this week, whether we will finish up on the ISTEA highway bill 
or not, and that is an important piece of legislation. I think all of 
us know that people in our States anxiously await the Senate to move 
forward on this business. It sounds like the next piece of legislation 
we may have will be a piece of legislation introduced by Senator 
Coverdell from Georgia which deals with education and children.
  I won't get into all of the specifics. We will have plenty of debate 
on that matter. I wanted to just mention to colleagues that there are 
several amendments that I want to bring to the floor that I think are 
very relevant to what we need to do by way of responding to the 
concerns and circumstances of children. Let me preface this by saying 
to colleagues that I think one of the things we have to start doing as 
legislators, as Senators, one of the things we have to start doing on 
the floor of the Senate, is to have more of a focus on children. We 
have given enough speeches to deafen all the gods, and there have been 
enough reports.
  The question is, what are we going to do by way of movement forward 
with positive action that will help children in our country--all of the 
children in our country?
  I find myself, as I speak on the floor of the Senate today, critical 
of, I guess, both of our parties. One would think from the 
pronouncements we hear all the time that everybody is doing great in 
the United States of America today, that everything is humming along 
just fine, everybody is happy, everybody is satisfied. Yet, when I 
travel the country--and I go into a lot of different communities--I 
don't find that at all.
  I am glad that the economy is doing well in the aggregate. I am glad 
unemployment is at record low levels, though it doesn't tell us what 
jobs and what wages. I am glad the GDP looks good and that the business 
cycle is up. But can I raise the question, since we are going to move 
to education and children, how do we explain the fact that during this 
business cycle, with Republicans and Democrats talking about how great 
things are, we have one out of every four children under the age of 3 
growing up poor in America, and one out of every two children of color 
under the age of 3 growing up poor in America? And we are now saying 
that these early years are the most important years for these children 
in determining whether or not they are going to have the opportunity to 
reach their full potential. We have our work cut out for us, and I hope 
we will respond. So far we haven't.
  So when this legislation comes out, I want to just mention a couple 
of amendments that I am thinking about. One of them speaks to the 
question I just raised indirectly, but I think it's important. As I 
travel the country, I

[[Page S1549]]

am amazed--and I was speaking with a gathering of community college 
students who have focused on this as well--that in the name of 
``welfare reform,'' we are now saying to many single parents--most of 
them women, and many of them in our community colleges--they have to 
leave school and take a job. In other words, this is the bitter irony: 
They are on the path to economic self-sufficiency and yet we are 
telling many of these parents, these women, ``You have to leave 
college; you can't complete your education; you must take this job, 
because these are the work force participation requirements.'' It may 
be a $6-an hour-job with no benefits; and a year from now they are 
without health care coverage, they are worse off than they are now, as 
are their children.

  That is outrageous. So I am going to have an amendment for student 
exemption for these adults who are in school trying to complete their 
education so they can reach economic self-sufficiency, so that any 
State that wants to can at least say, look, we want to exclude these 
parents who are in school from the work force participation 
requirement. That makes a lot of sense if we are interested in these 
mothers and children being able to do better.
  The second question I want to raise for colleagues is--and I don't 
know if this will be an amendment on this bill or not, but as long as 
we are talking about education, which is what we are going to do with 
the Coverdell bill, and trying to do better for children--how come we 
cut food stamp benefits by 20 percent? The majority of the 
beneficiaries are children from families making under $7,500 a year.
  As I travel around the country, it all has to do with the questions 
you ask. It all has to do with whether you are willing to listen. It 
all has to do with what communities you are willing to visit. I find a 
lot of teachers telling me that a lot of their students can't do well 
because they come to school hungry. Why in the world did we cut the 
major safety net program for the working poor, the primary recipients, 
by 20 percent by the year 2002? I think we need to revisit that 
question.
  Mr. President, there is another issue that I want to raise that may 
be an amendment, or may not be, which is that it is impossible to focus 
on education and children doing well without focusing on the adults or 
the adult. The two variables--to wear a kind of political science hat 
for a moment--that have had the greatest impact, or the two primary 
causes of whether a child does well in school or not, the two most 
important factors--that is the word I am struggling for--are the 
educational attainment and the income status of the parent or parents.
  Well, if that is the case, I think we ought to start asking the 
question, if we are looking at the learning gap in our country and what 
children do well and what children don't do well, what about so many of 
these communities--and William Julius Wilson, a great sociologist, has 
written about this in his book called ``The Disappearance of Work''--
what about these communities where there are no jobs, even with the 
economy humming along as it is? What about many of the ghettos and 
barrios in rural areas where there are no jobs, and the parents or 
parent can't find employment, can't find a job at a decent wage? What 
is the connection between the economic status, the job status of the 
parent or parents, and the educational achievement of the children?
  I think that, at the very minimum, we ought to ask labor and the 
Department of Education to do a study of this and come back and provide 
us with some evidence. I will tell you that I think we will find a very 
strong correlation. And I will tell you that I am all for work. In 
fact, I think the most important policy goal is to make sure that when 
people in America work full-time, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, 
they are not poor. I can think of a variety of different things we 
ought to do to make sure that happens. We also ought to look in a lot 
of communities where people live where there are no jobs at all, nor is 
there transportation to get into the suburbs where those jobs do exist.
  I say to my colleagues, this is not just an urban issue; this is a 
big rural issue as well. I look forward to when the Coverdell bill 
comes out to the floor. I look forward to the debate and discussion.
  I see my colleague from Missouri on the floor. I don't want to take 
any more time. Before Senator Ashcroft takes the floor, I was talking 
about the importance of getting a resolution on China, urging the 
administration and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights that we ought to 
take a position on the violation of human rights in China. I know my 
colleague is a strong supporter. I say to my colleague that we are 
going to have tremendous support on an up-or-down vote. I am urging the 
administration today to please move forward. That was the other agenda 
item for me.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. ASHCROFT addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri is recognized.

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