[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 26461]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   VOTE NO ON TITLE I REAUTHORIZATION

  (Mr. RODRIGUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, we talk about the importance of 
education; yet when it comes to the education bill, we should all be 
disappointed in terms of where we are at with that particular bill. We 
talk about the global economy and yet when we look in terms of 
responding to the global economy, we should be there in terms of trying 
to teach dual language instruction, we should be there to try to 
improve multilingual education, we should be there to try to reinforce 
bilingual education.
  What are we doing? We are doing just the opposite. We are not 
addressing the needs that we need to address. As we look at the 
existing piece of legislation, especially Title I, there is some 
specific language in Title I. It is only addressed to limited English 
proficiency youngsters. Every other child, if you are an Anglo, if you 
are black, you do not have to jump through that hoop. The cost incurred 
is that if you are limited English proficiency, you
are required to have to get parental approval. If you are Anglo, you do 
not have to. If you are black, you do not have to. That is 
discriminatory.
  I would ask that Members seriously consider that we treat everyone in 
the same fashion and the same form. I would ask that we vote ``no'' on 
Title I.

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