[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 141 (Thursday, August 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5873-S5874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Guns for Teachers in the Classroom

  Finally, Madam President, in this administration, you can't believe 
what goes on. It is so far away from what the American people believe 
and feel. It is so dominated by a small, powerful group on the hard 
right--in this case, the gun lobby.
  What did Secretary DeVos say last night? The Times reported that 
Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration have a plan to allow States 
and school districts to use Federal funds that were intended to help 
high-poverty schools provide things like computer science, civics, and 
mental health treatment to instead buy guns for teachers. Is that 
amazing? Unbelievable.
  Teachers don't want guns. They know it will make them a target if, 
God forbid, a shooter comes into the school. And now DeVos wants to 
take Federal funds away from instruction so the school district can buy 
guns for teachers? What is that all about? What recklessness. What 
absurdity. Everyone knows arming teachers will not make our schools or 
children safer. The teachers themselves know it. That is why Congress, 
Democrats and Republicans, explicitly prohibited the use of DHS grants 
to purchase weapons or ammunition for schools. We just did that, 
Democrats and Republicans together. That is why, earlier this year, 
Congress explicitly prohibited the use of grants in the STOP School 
Violence Act for firearms purchases. Bringing more guns in our schools 
is not the answer at all.

  I can't believe that Ms. DeVos, the Secretary of Education, with the 
kinds of reckless views that she has exhibited, so antithetical to 
safety in

[[Page S5874]]

schools, so antithetical to good public education--she is highly 
unpopular with the American people throughout the country, not just in 
the blue States. In some of the reddest States, public education is so 
important, that her kowtowing to private education hurts millions of 
rural American school children.
  The Trump administration, once again, this time led again by 
Secretary DeVos, has concocted a plan to twist the law and cannibalize 
funding from high poverty schools to advance the NRA's dream policy. 
That is all it is. The Trump administration is giving the keys to the 
special interests, this time the NRA.
  Until President Trump breaks the NRA's stranglehold on the Republican 
Party--he has occasionally talked about it, but then fearful, retreated 
from the things he said--meaningful gun safety reform in this country 
will continue to be subverted by radical and dangerous ideas from the 
NRA, like arming teachers.
  This announcement occurs as we wrap up Labor-HHS, the appropriations 
bill. We have a bipartisan agreement to fund the title IV grant program 
at $1.2 billion, the most since its inception. But this news about 
Secretary DeVos's plans chills our celebration.
  I am calling on my colleagues to reaffirm that we do not believe more 
guns in schools will create safe, effective learning environments and 
that we certainly shouldn't use Federal dollars, take them away from 
instruction so we can arm teachers. Let's spike this hairbrained idea 
before it gets off the ground.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.