[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        PARTISAN DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION NO LONGER HOLDS THE TRUTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Shadegg) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHADEGG. Mr. Speaker, we are all aware this is a Sunday 
afternoon. As one of my colleagues noted earlier, we would rather be 
somewhere other than here. I, for one, would like to be home with my 
family, and with my children. I would have liked to have been there 
last night, when he played goalie for his soccer team for 2 games in a 
row, because the other goalie was out sick or had an obligation. But 
instead, we are in Washington, D.C. working on the Nation's business.
  I noted with interest the President's speech yesterday. The Nation's 
business at this point is finalizing our budget process and coming to 
agreement. Yesterday we held a little press conference out on the steps 
of the Capitol. We called on the President to join us, to join us in 
resolving our differences in getting the Federal Government funded for 
the next year and to move on with the Nation's business. Unfortunately, 
we have not been able to achieve that because there is disagreement.
  We should not set aside our principles. We disagree legitimately on 
the scope and role of the Federal Government. We believe that we need a 
smaller Federal Government. The other side believes we need a larger 
Federal Government. We believe we need more local control. The other 
side believes we should federalize almost all of the issues.
  We have reached a point, though, where we must find a common middle 
ground. The President has decided that we cannot reach that middle 
ground because, he says, the Republicans are failing to pass his 
education initiative.
  It really is sad that the dialogue in this country becomes partisan 
and no longer holds the truth. In this case, the Republican record on 
education is one that the Nation should be proud of, and one that the 
President actually, I believe, supports and has supported.
  In the 105th Congress, in this Congress, this Congress has sent the 
President seven different measures which he has enacted and signed into 
law: The Higher Education Act, the Special Education Fund, the 
WorkForce Investment Act, the Loan Forgiveness for New Teachers Act, 
the Quality Teaching Grants Act, The Emergency Student Loans Act, and 
The Prohibition on Federal Tests Act.
  We also have seven additional bills waiting for the President's 
signature: school nutrition, charter schools, quality Head Start, 
vocational education, Community Service Block Grants, $500 million plus 
for special education, and the Reading Excellence Act. This is a record 
of which every single American should be proud, a record of the 
Congress doing its job to fund education.
  Yet, I was saddened to hear in the President's radio address 
yesterday this issue made partisan. The President, it seems, wants his 
ideas imposed on education. What does he want specifically? Number one, 
he wants national testing. Number two, he wants new teachers, 100,000 
new teachers, but he does not want them hired under Title I, the 
existing Federal program that funds the hiring of teachers.
  He wants them in a new program, the Bill Clinton new teachers 
program, and he wants 5,000 new classrooms. He wants those in the Bill 
Clinton New Federal Teacher Construction Classroom Act, so that he can 
have his name on it. That is what this issue is about.
  Yet, let us look at the record, because the record is one in which 
Republicans have an excellent record on education, and in which the 
history of education is actually quite sad for the Federal Government 
in total and for the Democrat Congress in particular.
  Let me talk specifically about the issue of special education. We all 
understand special education. We understand the IDEA Act. We have 
talked about it. I recall very distinctly standing on this floor last 
year and fighting for more funds for IDEA, for funding for children 
with special education needs.
  Let us talk about why I was fighting for that, where this Congress 
stands and where this country is, and why what the President says he 
wants is not what this Congress did under Democrat leadership, and is 
not what this Congress is even doing now when we are trying to get 
funds into special education.
  Let me make this very clear. Current Federal law, passed under a 
Democrat Congress, says that 40 percent of the cost of educating, that 
is, the increased cost of educating a special education child, a child 
with special needs, 40 percent of that cost is supposed to be borne by 
the Federal Government. The remaining 60 percent is supposed to be 
picked up by the State and local governments; 40 percent Federal, 60 
percent State and local.
  That is what the law says, in theory, passed by the Democrat Congress 
and Congresses before the 104th Congress. But what is the reality? The 
reality is that when the Republicans took control of this Congress, 
only 6 percent was being funded by the Federal Government. Now we have 
moved that up to 12 percent, but we are falling millions of dollars 
short. This list shows how many millions. We are falling short in Los 
Angeles Unified District by $60 million every single year.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues, if we will fund IDEA, the 
districts can take care of their own education needs without passing 
the President's Federalization initiative.

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