[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 23331-23332]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              GOVERNMENT MUST DO MORE TO IMPROVE EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dickey). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, for the past few years, the American people 
have, through numerous focus groups and polls, sent a strong message to 
all elected officials. Government must do more to improve education. 
Government at every level, the local level, the State level, and at the 
Federal level must do more to improve education.
  Now we are finally approaching the closing days of the 106th 
Congress, the scandal of this session of Congress is that, despite the 
existence of a $230 billion Federal surplus, to date, the Republican 
majority has refused to respond to the clear demand of the American 
voters.
  The Republicans have chosen to move in the opposite direction. 
Republican inaction is sabotaging the Federal effort to improve our 
schools. Even long-standing programs, such as ESEA Title I have not 
been reauthorized by this Republican-controlled Congress. Only 
destructive proposals are being placed on the negotiations table by the 
Republicans.
  Publicly funded school vouchers and block grants are two of the most 
dangerous Republican proposals on the table. Both of these radical 
programs will hasten the demise of the public school systems in our 
Nation.

[[Page 23332]]

  We call on President Clinton to rule that block grants and vouchers 
are nonnegotiable items in the end game negotiations that are now 
beginning to take place. Title I block grants are nonnegotiable. We 
refuse to accept a situation where block grants would return the power 
to the States using Federal money to decide how Title I will be spent.
  It is the neglect, the savage neglect over the years of the States 
that have created conditions in our inner city communities and poverty 
rural communities that the Federal Government found necessary to 
address when the Elementary and Secondary Education System Act was 
established.
  Why should we abandon the very schools and communities that the 
Elementary and Secondary Education System Act was meant to help? There 
is no honorable trade-off possible for block grants and vouchers. We 
hope that, in the negotiations, there will be a flat refusal to trade 
off with the Republicans on block grants and vouchers.
  The bad news is that Republicans have turned their backs on education 
as the number one priority of the American people. But the good news is 
that Democrats have responded vigorously. All year long, we have made 
proposals.
  Democrats have proposed two school construction initiatives. One that 
most people know about is the Rangel-Johnson initiative that proposes 
to pay the interest on money borrowed by States and local governments. 
Up to $25 billion would be covered by a Federal allocation of about $4 
billion to cover the interest. The President has also proposed a direct 
appropriations initiative of $1.3 billion.
  Democrats support funding for smaller class sizes. Democrats support 
funding for more teachers in the classrooms, and therefore the ratio of 
students to teachers would be a more acceptable ratio and encourage 
greater teaching.
  But one cannot have smaller class sizes if one does not have the 
classrooms. The construction initiative is vital to the implementation 
of the Democratic initiative to get smaller class sizes. Certainly in 
the poorest schools in the poorest communities, we do not have the 
classes for the smaller class sizes.
  The 21st century learning centers proposed by the Democrats for 
after-school programs, for summer school programs, those programs also 
need room to operate in. One cannot operate effective summer schools 
unless one has buildings that are air conditioned in most parts of the 
country.
  The community technology centers are an initiative of this Democratic 
administration. They want to expand that. We need space. We need 
buildings.
  An increase in Head Start and preschool programs is another 
Democratic initiative. We cannot increase Head Starts in the poorest 
communities where they are most needed. We cannot increase preschool 
programs in the poorest communities where they are most needed unless 
we have new facilities. We have to have better buildings and more 
buildings in order to accommodate these programs.
  In our inner-city communities, school construction comes first. In 
Brooklyn, in my 11th Congressional District, we worked vigorously to 
get rid of coal burning schools, schools that have furnaces that burn 
coal. I am happy to report that the end is almost in sight, that the 
School Construction Authority in New York City has an agenda where by 
the end of the year 2001, there will be no more coal burning furnaces 
in our schools.
  It is imperative that we act now to construct more schools. The 
Democratic initiative is necessary.

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