[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ON EDUCATION FUNDING CUTS

  (Ms. VELAZQUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today deeply disturbed by the 
Republican majority's continual disregard for the future of our 
children. Year after year they attack important education programs and 
now they refuse to provide funds for school construction and smaller 
classroom size.
  Have you not learned? The American people believe in educational 
opportunities. They want their children to learn and succeed. But for 
many of our children, a schoolroom is not a place to learn but a place 
to survive. Like our roads and bridges, our Nation's schoolrooms are 
crumbling. In my district in New York, children are trying to learn in 
conditions that we should be ashamed of, crumbling walls, leaking 
roofs, and overcrowding. How can a child be expected to learn to read 
and write when the walls are literally falling down around them? 
Democrats are committed to making sure that every child in this country 
has a modern, safe school in which to learn. This is a commitment we 
have made to our children and it is a commitment worth fighting for.

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