[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 127 (Wednesday, October 2, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S9814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION 
                             APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the majority 
leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, may turn to the 
consideration of S. 2776, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and 
Education appropriations bill.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, on behalf of the minority leader, we object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa is recognized.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank the leader and the assistant 
majority leader, Senator Reid, for attempting to bring forward this 
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill. I am disappointed 
some in this body don't want us to move forward with this vital piece 
of legislation for the American people.
  I invite my colleagues to take a hard look at the bill. It is a good 
one. It is a bipartisan bill. I invite my colleagues, especially on the 
Republican side, who objected to bringing this up to take a look at the 
cost of our inaction and what it will mean for America's school 
children this year.
  As I have said, this is a bipartisan bill. It passed both the 
subcommittee and the full committee unanimously. One reason for that is 
the good allocation my subcommittee was provided by our chairman, 
Senator Byrd, and the ranking Member, Senator Stevens. Another reason 
is the bipartisan partnership Senator Specter and I have enjoyed for 
many years. I thank each for their efforts.
  Why can't we move forward now? Nothing is happening here. Look at the 
Senate. Nothing is happening. Nothing is happening, and we want to 
bring up our education bill to fund America's schools, and the 
Republicans won't let us. I ask why? Why is there an objection today to 
bringing up the funding bill for education?
  I have heard the President pounding on the podium in cities and towns 
all across the country saying the U.S. Senate needs to act. I agree. It 
is time to act. It is time to live up to the promises the President and 
this Congress made on education. We are ready to act. We didn't object. 
The Republicans objected to bringing up our education bill.
  Not incidentally, it is time to live up to the promise we made on a 
bipartisan basis to double the funding for the National Institutes of 
Health. With this bill, we would have completed that 5-year goal. Now 
that has been put on the back burner. With this bill, we could have 
completed that 5-year goal. And that is put on the back burner. It is 
all in jeopardy, as is the promise of the Leave No Child Behind Act.

  Last year we came together on a bipartisan basis to demand more of 
our public schools. We said the status quo was not good enough; we had 
to do better. Now, by not acting on this bill, we have passed mandates 
on our public schools, mandates about leaving no child behind, and now 
we are not coming forward with the funding to help them.
  Now we are going to do a continuing resolution. That is what they 
tell me. What does passing a long-term continuing resolution mean? I 
talk about that with my constituents. I talk about a CR, a continuing 
resolution, and their eyes glaze over. What does that mean?
  In real terms, the objection by the minority side today means $3.2 
billion less for education overall for this year, the one we are in 
now, and $1.5 billion less for title I, which is most important for 
implementing Leave No Child Behind.
  Since the objection was made on behalf of the minority leader, the 
Senator from Mississippi, I point out that in Mississippi that would be 
$5.3 million less this year for title I if we do not get this bill 
through.
  The ink isn't even dry on the Leave No Child Behind bill and already 
we are undercutting the schools. I have talked with a lot of my 
principals in Iowa and they are deeply concerned about what is going to 
happen when they have to meet their annual yearly progress standards 
and yet we have not given them the tools by which they can do so. It 
will be a cruel joke on them to have passed Leave No Child Behind and 
not pass the funding.
  How about special education? A long-term continuing resolution, 
without this bill, means $1 billion less for the Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act. Again, since this objection was made on 
behalf of the Senator from Mississippi, I will point out that for 
Mississippi it means they will get $10.7 million less this year for 
special education because the minority leader objected to moving to the 
education appropriations bill.
  It is time we pass the money for special education. Last year Senator 
Hagel and I came together on a bipartisan amendment to do it, but the 
President and the House punted and said no. And they are doing it 
again.
  I say to colleagues, ask your principals and your school boards about 
their need for special education funding and you will find out how much 
it is needed. Because this objection was made today, $1 billion less 
will be made available to our public schools in America.
  For student financial aid--for those going to college--a long-term CR 
means $100 less for the maximum Pell grant, and not a single dollar 
more for student loans and other college aid.
  In my own State of Iowa, because of the downturn in the economy, we 
have seen a 20-percent tuition increase at our public universities. 
These schools are critical to helping middle-class kids climb the 
ladder of opportunity. Yet today the minority leader says no to helping 
these middle-class kids get a college education.
  The world has changed a lot from a year ago. There is no denying 
that. We have different priorities, as well we should. But if we cannot 
ensure that every child in America has the best public education, then 
what kind of a nation are we fighting for?
  President Kennedy once said of education:

       Let us think of education as the means of developing our 
     greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private 
     hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into 
     benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
       It is the private hopes and the private dreams of the 
     families of these kids in public schools--in elementary 
     school and high school, and now wanting to go to college--it 
     is their private hopes and dreams that are being stunted by 
     the objection by the minority leader today in not going to 
     the education funding bill.

  We are here in the Senate. We are not doing a cotton-picking thing. 
We are just sitting around. Why? Because the minority leader will not 
let us do anything. They may think it is good politics. Maybe they can 
go out there and now argue: Well, we can't get anything done in the 
Senate. We can't get anything done in the Senate. Well, not because of 
what the Democrats are doing. We want to bring up the education funding 
bill. It is the minority leader who is objecting. The Republican leader 
is objecting.
  We could bring it up. As I say one more time, this education funding 
bill passed the subcommittee and the full committee unanimously--
unanimously. So for what possible reason would the minority leader 
object to bringing up the education funding bill when we are not doing 
anything anyway? It would seem to me we could bring it up, debate it 
this afternoon, and probably get it passed tomorrow, since it was 
supported unanimously on both sides of the aisle.
  It is time for us to act to get the money out for special education, 
title I, for elementary and secondary education, help for our middle-
class kids going to college. The minority leader today has said no. He 
said that politics comes first. I think our kids should come first.
  Well, they have objected today, Mr. Leader. I will attempt again 
tomorrow to bring up the education funding bill, and every day that we 
are here, to bring it up to let the American people know that we, on 
this side, and I, as chairman of the subcommittee that funds education, 
want to bring it up. We want to get it through. I am just sorry that 
the minority leader has objected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.

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