[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 146 (Wednesday, October 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A HISTORY LESSON WORTH REMEMBERING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hansen). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle need to brush up on their history lessons. When they talk about 
block granting the President's teachers initiative to put 100,000 more 
teachers in the classroom, they should start by reviewing the history 
of the cops on the beat program.
  In 1995, House Republicans voted to eliminate the cops on the beat 
program and replace it with a block grant. But we prevailed; the 
program remains intact. And despite all the predictions of an out-of-
control bureaucracy, the cops program has been one of the most 
successful and popular Federal programs in our history.
  This program is making a real difference to people across this 
country. It is making a real difference to the people in my district in 
Northern California, the district just north of the Golden Gate bridge. 
The cops program is helping my district to be a safer place to live, a 
safer place to raise our children. This same program is making other 
districts, all of the districts across the country that much safer for 
families.
  Since the cops program began, local police departments in my 
district, which includes Marin and Sonoma Counties, have received a 
total of more than $4.4 million in Federal funding, including nearly $2 
million in funds for public safety departments, to hire the equivalent 
of 38 new police officers. Cops funding has been used for a variety of 
public safety programs, including establishing domestic violence 
reduction programs.
  Guess what? There is no out-of-control bureaucracy. There are no 
hoops to jump through, no red tape. Police departments have had the 
flexibility to put officers and other resources where they need them 
the most. The Clinton initiative for schools to hire 100,000 new 
teachers would be much the same. Yet despite the overwhelming success 
of the targeted cops program, House Republicans want to do the same 
thing that they proposed for that program to the President's teachers 
initiative, that they tried to do before. They want to use a block 
grant rather than target funds to hire the new teachers. Will they 
never learn?
  We already know that overcrowded classrooms is one of the biggest 
obstacles to improving education for our children, and we know that a 
block grant cannot guarantee our kids smaller classes unless we 
guarantee more trained teachers.
  Democrats want to target funds to schools to hire more teachers using 
the title I formula.
  They want to use the title VI formula. They will not use the title I 
formula, when title I is the most successful education funding formula 
and it will guarantee that our Federal dollars are used to hire 
teachers and, in turn, reduce class size.
  Democrats also want to help schools reduce class size by financing 
school bond initiatives. Too many American students are trying to learn 
in crumbling, unsafe school buildings or in temporary trailers which 
have turned into permanent trailers in school parking lots.
  Democrats also want many of our students that are already missing out 
on technology and being part of the technology superhighway to help 
their schools get wired.
  This Congress should be helping communities repair their unsafe 
schools. They should be helping communities renovate their school 
buildings and they should be helping their communities make sure that 
these temporary-turned-into-permanent trailers are not a real ongoing 
part of their school.
  Mr. Speaker, children make up 25 percent of our population, but they 
are 100 percent of our future. Investing in their education is the best 
way to invest in their future and, therefore, the best way to invest in 
the future of the United States of America.

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