[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 177 (Friday, November 18, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H7876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1410
                NORTH FOREST INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons that I rose 
to the floor of the House to oppose the balanced budget amendment--and 
I hope the American people and our colleagues can see the value of the 
vigorous debate, and I applaud the Rules Committee for allowing us the 
time to deliberate on the issue of the balanced budget amendment--is 
for the very good reason that my good friend and colleague just spoke 
about: our young people and opportunities for jobs.
  I join him in finding pathways for young people to be transitioned 
into jobs and others into jobs, along with a college education.
  The North Forest Independent School District, a small school district 
in Texas designated to be closed by Governor Perry's Texas Education 
Agency, is trying to do just that, to have job training, to have 
partnerships with the Houston Community College, and I congratulate Mr. 
Ivory Mayhorn for getting some 7,000-plus signatures to oppose the 
closing of this school district, a high school that is on the verge of 
training individuals in the trades and the skills of manufacturing and 
then bridging them on to community college and then on to college.
  We've got to recognize that we've got to build the human resource--
and a balanced budget amendment ignores the need to protect Medicare, 
Social Security, and Medicaid--investing in our children, providing 
them with the opportunity and the bridge to move on.
  So I look forward to working, Mr. Speaker, with the North Forest 
Independent School District and working with this Congress to invest in 
human resources.

                          ____________________