[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 34 (Thursday, March 4, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TIME FOR A BIPARTISAN SCHOOL MODERNIZATION ACT

  (Mr. LARSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LARSON. Mr. Speaker, school buildings in this Nation represent a 
$2 trillion investment, an investment that was primarily made by a 
generation of people who survived the depression and fought and won the 
Second World War. Upon returning, they saw the need to expand schools, 
saw the need to provide for their children, saw the responsibility that 
was placed upon them as they addressed the issue of a crumbling 
infrastructure system and the need to have schools that were not 
overcrowded and could provide the best possible education.
  Many of the Members of Congress are beneficiaries of that generation. 
It is the responsibility of us today to embrace the issue of school 
modernization and pass in a bipartisan effort the School Modernization 
Act. By providing these monies, we can ensure not only smaller classes, 
but address the infrastructure concerns and the technological concerns 
that we need to take this Nation and our children into the 21st 
century.
  Let me conclude by saying this, that this is a match that cannot be 
postponed.

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