[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE WELL-BEING OF AMERICA'S FAMILIES DEPENDS UPON THE HEALTH OF OUR 
                         SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the goal of those of us here in Congress 
should be to be a full partner for the American people, who really care 
about the essentials. They want their children to be safe when they go 
out the door to school in the morning, they are concerned about the 
family's economic security, and they want them to be healthy, 
physically and environmentally.
  This well-being of our families depends upon the health of our 
schools. There are some in Congress who would turn their back upon the 
historic responsibility that the Federal Government has had with 
education, claiming that this is exclusively a State or a local 
responsibility. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Federal 
Government has always played a major role in education, starting from 
the Land Ordinance Act of 1785 through the GI bill to school lunches 
today.
  There are three critical areas that we must address here in this 
Congress: assistance for the children who are the most difficult and 
expensive to educate; the reduction of gun violence, so that families 
can have peace of mind when the children go to school; and the 
promotion of computer skills and access that are so essential for 
success in today's world.
  Congress mandated, appropriately so, in the 94th Congress that there 
would be special education access for children with severe learning 
disabilities, but along with that mandate came a promise of 40 percent 
funding from the Federal Government, appropriately, for these children 
are the most difficult and expensive to educate. Yet, we are 
contemplating only 9 percent Federal funding in place of that 40 
percent commitment.
  In the area of gun safety, we have seen example after example across 
this country where carnage has erupted on our schoolyards. Yet, at the 
same time, this Congress has a number of bills before it that are 
designed to reduce the incidence of gun violence. So far, not one has 
been scheduled to come to this floor.
  Finally, in the area of Internet connection, that promise was to be 
made through the mechanism of the E-Rate, a heavily discounted fee that 
would be available particularly to inner city schools, rural schools, 
but all American schools and libraries would benefit, to some degree. 
This was the promise of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and yet 
this promise has yet to be fully implemented. Indeed, today there are 
some in Congress who are threatening to repeal that provision, leaving 
behind the most needy children from the information superhighway.

  There is no reason for us to shrug our shoulders, no excuse for 
inaction. We know the problems. We in Congress have made the 
commitments. We currently have the strongest economy of a generation. 
Indeed, some of my friends in the Republican leadership feel we have so 
much money that they feel comfortable contemplating a $1 trillion tax 
cut over the next 10 years.
  I would suggest that, first and foremost, we tend to knitting by 
first fully funding our commitment to special education; by passing 
commonsense legislation to reduce gun access, the cap laws that would 
mandate safe storage and responsible gun ownership; and finally, keep 
our commitments to our schools and libraries by fully funding the E-
Rate. Americans and their children deserve no less from this Congress.

                          ____________________