[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        WE SHOULD BE PREPARING OUR SCHOOLS FOR THE NEXT CENTURY

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, we do not want to shut the government 
down, we want to keep America's schools open, and we want to make sure 
that America's schools can prosper well into the next century.
  Now this Congress has had all of this year with a balanced budget and 
a Federal surplus to get a budget together. It has not. So then it 
declares martial law on the House so that it can bring up anything at 
any time that it wants. Well, if that is their will, then let us bring 
up something that is meaningful for this country, and that is our 
children, 100,000 school teachers with federal assistance to help 
reduce class size so teachers can teach at the greatest ability of 
those children's levels. In terms of instead of having class sizes of 
30 or more, let us reduce it to a size that can make a real meaningful 
difference for children, of modernizing schools, schools that are from 
the turn of the century and now we are ready to turn a new century. We 
should be able to modernize them as well.
  That is what Democrats are fighting about, that is why we have not 
yet come to an agreement. It is not about shutting the government down, 
it is about keeping our schools open and prepared for the next century. 
That is what we should be about; that is what we should be getting on 
to this floor.

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