[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 25067]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION VERSUS TAX BREAKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Coburn). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to continue to call 
on this Congress to pass a real school construction legislation without 
delay, before our adjournment for the year. We have missed 
opportunities after opportunities to stop our partisan wrangling and 
pass a meaningful bill and reach the priorities that we need to reach 
with this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, as a Congressman from North Carolina's Second 
Congressional District, I represent an area of the country that has 
undergone some tremendous growth over the last several years. In 
communities throughout my district and across this country, our schools 
are bursting at the seams. Our local communities are struggling to 
provide resources to build new schools and to repair old ones and get 
children out of trailers and just fix up old, run-down buildings.
  For nearly 4 years now, I have worked with my colleagues in the House 
on both sides of the political aisle to provide leadership on this 
important issue and pass a common sense bill that will help our local 
schools deal with this critical problem. We have come together to 
support H.R. 4094, the Rangel-Johnson-Etheridge bill that is sponsored 
by the Republican Congresswoman from Connecticut and my friend from New 
York. This important bill will provide $25 billion in school 
construction bonds for our local communities to build schools for our 
children. It really provides national leadership on this issue that is 
critical to the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, a clear majority of the Members of this House have 
supported H.R. 4094. 228 Members, Democrats and Republicans alike, have 
signed on as cosponsors. The House will pass this bill if we can only 
get a chance to vote on it. The President has stated that he will sign 
this important legislation the minute it reaches his desk. We have an 
opportunity to provide real leadership and pass this measure to help 
provide educational opportunities for our children.
  But unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership of this 
House has chosen the path of confrontation and gridlock over the 
opportunity for consensus and progress. Rather than working together to 
produce a common sense solution to the need for school construction, 
the Republican leadership brought to the floor today a bill that was a 
sham of a school construction measure. Instead of fully funding the 
cost-effective Rangel-Johnson bill, the Republican leadership's bill 
would shift funds to much less effective arbitrage relief and private 
activity bonds. The arbitrage proposal would provide schools with only 
$24 per $1,000 in bonds compared with $624 per $1,000 in bonds in the 
Rangel-Johnson bill. In addition, because schools would have to delay 
construction for at least 2 years to receive any benefits, areas with 
the most urgent need would not be able to build the buildings that they 
need. The private activity bonds benefit only those schools available 
to find a for-profit company willing to pay up-front construction 
costs. Neither arbitrage nor private activity bonds target assistance 
to the schools that so badly need it today.
  Mr. Speaker, the Members of this House have an obligation, a solemn 
responsibility in my opinion to work together to craft common sense 
solutions to the problems facing America's schools. But, rather, we do 
not work hard to meet the responsibility that is before us. The 
Republican leadership has chosen to pass a sham proposal, a bill that 
is truly going to be vetoed. They knew it was going to be vetoed when 
it passed today. The Republican tax bill contains many provisions that 
I supported, but the sad fact is the Republican leadership chose to 
include many good provisions in a fundamentally flawed bill.
  In addition, the leadership today pushed through an appropriations 
bill that provides $687 million in grants to States to build prisons. 
Mr. Speaker, I supported that provision because we probably need to 
build some, but to me it is the wrong priority to pass prisons before 
we build schools.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I remain an optimist. We still have time 
to pass a real school construction bill before this Congress adjourns 
and I urge the Republican leadership to do so.

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