[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 34 (Thursday, March 4, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RISING DEMANDS ON SCHOOLS, NOT IRRESPONSIBILITY, CAUSE HIGHER SCHOOL 
                              UPKEEP COSTS

  (Mr. FORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FORD. Mr. Speaker, I would say to my friend, the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Kingston), people in Tennessee have not been irresponsible 
in spending education funds. I would recommend to him that he ought to 
look at the problems in Atlanta and other places in Georgia in keeping 
up with some of the rising demands in our schools.
  The reality is that some 14 million of our students, of the 52.7 
which are enrolled in public schools around the Nation today, go to 
school each and every day with some major infrastructure problem. We 
can argue Republican and Democrat, we can argue State and Federal, but 
the reality is, 14 million kids day in and day out have to worry about 
a roof falling in.
  Maybe it is me, but I think we have a role in ensuring our kids can 
go to school in safe and clean and learner-friendly environments. Maybe 
it is me, in thinking that the Federal Government, if we can build 
prisons, that we ought to be able to build schools.
  It is my hope that we can get beyond this partisan and inflammatory 
rhetoric that seems to, quite frankly, come on both sides, and do what 
is right for our children. We support tax relief, we support 
strengthening defense. But let us be honest, they did not support 
school modernization last year. With a new day here in the Congress, we 
have moved beyond all the partisan bickering and division that 
separated us last year.
  Let us do what is right. I say to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Weller), I will support marriage tax relief if he will support building 
new schools in Illinois and Tennessee.

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