[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6571]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN

  (Ms. VELAZQUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, we cannot prepare our children for the 
future with an educational system from the past. We cannot lift our 
students up by sending them to schools that are falling down. These are 
simple facts which must be addressed, and they must be addressed now.
  Communities like the ones I represent in Brooklyn and the Lower East 
Side of New York are in need of resources to build and improve schools. 
In fact, the Sunset Park Community of Brooklyn does not have even a 
high school.
  The result of the problem can be seen in dropout rates among 
minorities which is 13 percent among blacks and 29 percent among 
Hispanics. Unfortunately, Republicans want to ignore these realities. 
They want to spend the budget surplus on expensive tax cuts, instead of 
helping our children prepare for the future. They do not want to join 
Democrats in fixing schools, providing technology, and hiring more 
teachers. They want to leave the future of America's children to 
chance.

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