[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 122 (Monday, September 13, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7039-S7040]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. HUTCHISON (for herself and Mr. Cornyn):
  S. 3768. A bill to eliminate certain provisions relating to Texas and 
the Education Jobs Fund; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise to talk about a bill I 
introduced today with Senator Cornyn as a cosponsor. It is S. 3768. 
When Congress passed and the President signed the education jobs fund 
bill in August, every State in America had the same requirements and 
every State in America was treated fairly--or equally, anyway--except 
for one and that State is Texas. That is why Senator Cornyn and I are 
introducing a bill that would only allow Texas to be equal with every 
other State in the Federal funding opportunity in this education bill.
  The House of Representatives--not the Senate but the House--put in an 
amendment that singled out Texas in two ways. It said that Texas, 
unlike every other State in the bill, would have to guarantee 3 years 
of a commitment for education funding to be level in order to get the 
funds for 1 year that were allocated in the bill. Every other State in 
America is required to make such a commitment for 1 year.
  Our constitution in Texas, similar to many State constitutions, does 
not allow one legislature to pass legislation that will require acts of 
another legislature, so appropriations cannot go over a 3-year period. 
Our legislature can only appropriate and spend Texas money for itself. 
It cannot obligate future legislatures. So the House provision would 
require Texas to violate its Constitution in order to receive the 
Federal money that every other State has as an allocation.
  The second thing that only Texas is required to do under this bill is 
to distribute the funds under the title I distribution formula. Every 
other State gives its Governor and its State Department of Education 
the discretion for the money to be used where it is most needed within 
its State. After all, education is generally a State and local issue. 
In this case, you do have Federal funding, and it is provided for every 
State by giving it to the Governor for the distribution within the 
State. Only in Texas, however, under the legislation that was passed, 
would the requirement be that title I provides the formula, not the 
State of Texas and its appropriations, Governor and Lieutenant 
Governor.
  It is puzzling, to say the least, that Texas was singled out in this 
way. But I am going to do everything I can to assure that does not 
continue. The Commissioner of Education asked for the Texas allocation 
of $830 million in the normal way, met all the Federal requirements and 
the time guidelines for submitting the grant request for an estimated 
$830 million. The request was turned down because, of course, the 
Governor could not certify 3 years of level spending because the 
legislature cannot obligate future legislatures in our Constitution. So 
Texas has just been turned down.
  If we can pass the legislation Senator Cornyn and I are introducing 
today or if we can amend the bill that is before us, which we are going 
to try to do--we perfected the process today by offering this as an 
amendment on the bill that is before this body, and I am going to try 
to get this as an amendment on every bill that is going through--that 
will just create a level playing field.
  We are certainly not asking for special favors, but again we are also 
asking that we not be penalized just because a House Member decided 
Texas should have a different standard.
  We all understand politics in the usual sense. But having an argument 
between a Member of the House and the Governor is not a reason to 
penalize every schoolchild in Texas, every school district in Texas, 
every teacher in Texas, every administrator in Texas. It is not right. 
I think any person who puts the politics aside would agree that 
reasonableness would dictate that every State should be treated the 
same. In the bill that was passed, we are spending Texas tax dollars 
just like we are spending the tax dollars of every taxpayer in America. 
Texas would be putting the dollars into the Federal coffers but being 
penalized from receiving its fair share, as we certainly described 
happens in the bill.
  The Hutchison-Cornyn bill is now going through the processes, and we 
are going to ask for support from all our colleagues to have that level 
playing field. Senator Cornyn and I have been working, along with 
Congressman Michael Burgess on the House side and the Texas delegation 
in the House. Many in the House delegation are certainly going to want 
to see this corrected, I hope. I do hope we can get prompt action. We 
need to do it before the end of this fiscal year in order to qualify in 
our rightful way.
  We are not asking for special favors, most certainly. We expect to 
meet all the tests any State would meet. We expect to have our grant 
application looked at and scrutinized and determined if it is eligible 
in every way. But we do not expect to have a different standard from 
every other State in America.
  Senator Cornyn and I are very hopeful we can get prompt action from 
the Senate to send this to the House. I hope the House will also see 
that was not meant to be--at least I am sure every Member voting on 
this bill did not know Texas was being treated differently. I do not 
think this is a time for any State to start a war with another State. 
That is not the way we ought to do business. I do not wish to be 
starting that kind of precedent even--I wouldn't do it to any other 
State, and I certainly do not expect it to be done to mine.
  Senator Cornyn and I have introduced the Hutchison-Cornyn 
legislation. We hope we can level the playing field. All we ask is that 
we be judged like every State, that we have the requirement of 1 year 
of level funding, just as every other State is required to do and which 
I know our Texas Education Agency will certainly agree to do; then, 
second, that we be able to distribute according to the State 
requirements and the State priorities rather than a Federal funding 
formula done when no one has come to Texas to look at our formula and 
our needs for this particular bill. If we can correct those two things 
and put Texas on a level playing field with any other State, then I 
think it will be the right thing to do.
  Sometimes we have little tiffs here, politically, but I don't think 
anyone can argue that a retribution against one person in Texas by one 
Member of Congress is a good reason to make a public policy decision 
that is disastrous for our State--that is hurting, just like every 
State, in not having enough dollars. We have a deficit right now of 
about $20 billion facing the next legislature in Texas.
  If we can have what has passed, what is going through this Congress 
and what has been signed by the President, it would help alleviate some 
of the concerns our educators and education leaders in Texas are now 
saddled with; that is, a lot more expenses than revenue coming in. I 
hope we can right this wrong.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, today my colleague Senator Hutchison and I 
have introduced legislation to repeal a House provision in the 
Education Jobs Bill that discriminates solely against the state of 
Texas. As a result of the House language, Texas will be denied over 
$800 million in federal funding.
  The Hutchison-Cornyn bill will strip the language requiring Texas to 
make a commitment for three years of funding in order to be eligible 
for any of the $10 billion in the Education Jobs Fund. To be in 
compliance with the provision, the state would have to violate its own 
constitution. The Texas Legislature has sole authority to determine 
state appropriations--they cannot be dictated by the federal 
government. Additionally, one legislature cannot bind a future 
legislature. Moreover, this provision singles out Texas because all 
other states must only commit to one year of funding in order to 
receive Education Jobs Program funding.
  The House language also stipulates that Texas must distribute funds 
through Title I funding formula, rather than allowing the governor to 
determine the funding distribution, as is the case in the other states 
and territories. In Texas this would preclude 31 districts from 
receiving any funds, and will result in less funding for 66 percent of 
the state's school districts.
  Unfortunately, on September 9, 2010 the U.S. Department of Education 
denied an application from Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott 
for

[[Page S7040]]

$830 million from the Education Jobs Fund.
  The real impact of the House language, however, is felt in school 
districts across our state. Recently, for example, I received a letter 
from the Superintendent of the Hamlin Independent School District 
informing me that the West Texas school district was forced to cut more 
than $80,000 from the district's budget to cover rising salary costs. 
If Texas is prohibited from applying for the Education Jobs Fund, 
Hamlin ISD stands to lose over $90,000 in federal dollars, an amount 
that could compensate for the district's current budget cuts.
  Our bill would put a stop to Texas Democrats' efforts to play 
politics with much-needed funding for Texas schools and teachers. Texas 
taxpayer dollars belong in Texas schools--not in California or New 
York, as the Doggett Amendment would have it. I urge my colleagues to 
pass our bill so we can remove this partisan roadblock and move quickly 
to restore critical Federal funding to Texas schools.
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