[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S12363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               EDUCATION

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, a great deal has been talked about here 
this afternoon as to what this Congress and our President will do on 
the issue of education. I am, once again, pleased to see our President 
engaged and spending time talking about education. He spent so much 
time skipping class and trying to avoid detention that he failed to 
learn about what Republicans and the majority here in Congress have 
been doing on behalf of education for the last good many months.
  It is with that in mind that I would like to, for a few moments, talk 
about what we have done and what is being done. I am pleased that the 
President is once again engaged. We finally got his attention in the 
last week. He is staying in the White House and trying to work with us 
to resolve some of these issues. That is important. It is time that 
Congress adjourn, but most important, we must finish our work before we 
go.
  The President did come home on occasion to veto a few bills this 
year, but he seems to have forgotten them. He seems to have forgotten 
the Coverdell A+ education bill that he vetoed, which would have 
provided educational savings accounts, would have allowed parents to 
set aside $2,000 a year per child for educational expenses, and teacher 
testing and merit pay would reward teachers for their performance in 
the classroom. That was part of the bill that he vetoed. It also 
included dollars to the classroom, which would put money directly from 
the Federal Government into helping students instead of the 
bureaucrats. It is interesting that my colleagues on the other side, a 
few moments ago, introduced information about what GAO said. Let me 
tell you what the Federal Government said, what the Department of 
Education said about its own problems with paperwork and the burning up 
of valuable educational dollars. The U.S. Department of Education 
estimates that it takes approximately 48.6 million paperwork hours--the 
equivalent of almost 25,000 employees working 40 hours a week for a 
full year--to complete the paperwork involving the administration of 
the Federal education programs. The Senator from Washington spoke about 
the amount of time that local units of education use filling out the 
paperwork.

  In my State of Idaho, as is true in Iowa, Ohio or any other State 
across the Nation, 50 percent of its paperwork burden is directly 
related to the 5 percent of the money that it gets. What happened? The 
President vetoed it. He came home, focused for a few moments, vetoed 
it, and left town again.
  What about the tax regarding the College Tuition Program, encouraging 
parents to save for their child's college education? That, too, was 
vetoed by the President.
  So when this President stands up and says, ``I want billions of 
dollars more for education,'' what he is saying is, ``I want billions 
of dollars more here in Washington to be run through a Federal system 
to be directed out for education,'' while this Senate voted, by a 
majority, to do quite the opposite--to literally turn the public loose 
to fund education without Federal strings.
  Eighty-four percent of Federal elementary and secondary education 
funds are used for instruction, according to the April 1998 report by 
the U.S. Department of Education. What happened to the other 
percentage? Let's see. I guess that would be 16 percent. What happened? 
Overhead and administration. That is what it cost to get the money out.
  You see, there is a game played in this town. It is how big you can 
build the agency and how many times you can roll the paper before you 
send the money out.
  That is exactly what this Congress tried to avoid. That is exactly 
what we did avoid with legislation passed by this Senate and passed by 
the House and vetoed by this President.
  Now that we are attempting to adjourn our Congress, just in the last 
few days the President is home back in school, not avoiding classes, 
and he is trying to spend, or spin his story about education.
  Mr. President, why did you veto all of these productive pieces of 
legislation that were passed by a majority, a bipartisan majority, in 
Congress? Why did you veto legislation that, when polled, well over 60 
percent of the American people said it gave more power to the family, 
to the parent, to the local education school board? That is what 
America wants. They don't want 100,000 federally paid-for teachers and 
a bureaucracy to go along, and over 20 percent of the money staying 
right here to be spent on thousands and thousands of hours of 
paperwork.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. FORD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky still has his 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FORD. I thank the Chair very kindly. I appreciate it very much.

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