[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 24316]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  TIME FOR CONGRESS TO QUIT PLAYING PARTISAN POLITICS WITH AMERICA'S 
                             SCHOOLCHILDREN

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, we have heard a lot of talk about health 
care here this morning. And health care is very important. Education is 
pretty important, too.
  I think it is time for the President and his liberal Democratic 
friends here in the House to quit playing partisan politics with 
American schoolchildren and with their schools. They spend so much time 
distorting the Republican record on education spending that they fail 
to acknowledge that spending is not the only issue.
  We all believe that education funding is important. The difference 
lies in how we want that money to be spent. Liberal Democrats want it 
to be spent on more big government programs. It does not matter to them 
if the programs work or not as long as they can make themselves believe 
that they are helping kids.
  I would rather see education dollars go directly to the classroom 
where it can be spent by people who know other children's names. They 
could spend it on books or chalk or computer equipment or whatever else 
they need to teach their students. This is a whole lot better than 
spending it on reams of bureaucratic paperwork.

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