[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9860]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               EDUCATION FUNDING REQUIRES ACCOUNTABILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I realize that Americans are flocking to 
the beaches and taking with them a variety of reading materials. And so 
I guess in that sense, Mr. Speaker, it comes as no surprise that we are 
treated to the latest fiction and rhetorical terror from the leftists 
in this community who always trust Washington bureaucrats instead of 
the people.
  As I listened to the litany of fiction just a few moments ago 
preceding me in the well, I noticed with interest that nowhere in any 
of the statements of the gentleman from California was there one 
scintilla of a request for accountability. Not in the litany of alleged 
shortages was there a simple request to have an accounting.
  Now, I guess it should come as no surprise because under the Clinton-
Gore administration, Mr. Speaker, do we realize that the Department of 
Education cannot account for $18 billion of our money? The books of the 
Department of Education are unauditable. Mr. Speaker, Secretary Riley, 
President Clinton, Vice President Gore would be well-advised to take a 
mathematics refresher course.
  No one doubts that children are our future. No one doubts that 
education is vitally important. But, Mr. Speaker, how do we serve the 
people when $18 billion is not accounted for? That is real money.
  Worst still is the notion that somehow by supplying more and more 
dollars, even when they cannot be accounted for, to Washington 
bureaucrats that somehow that magically by osmosis fixes our public 
schools. Nothing could be further from the truth.
  We understand in this common sense Congress with an emerging 
bipartisan majority that the best way to help teachers teach and help 
children learn is to call for accountability, first and foremost with 
parents and teachers and local leaders. That is the key and that is the 
major defense. That is why our majority in this House of 
Representatives time and again has asked for dollars to get to the 
classroom. That for every dollar of Federal taxpayer money devoted to 
education, 90 cents go to the classroom; only 10 cents be left for the 
care and feeding of Washington bureaucrats.
  That is why, Mr. Speaker, I was pleased that every Member of this 
House last summer joined me in voting for the New Education Land-Grant 
Act that helps local school districts in 44 of our 50 states receive at 
low cost, $10 an acre, up to 100 acres of federally controlled land 
that is not environmentally sensitive so that precious resources within 
those communities can go to what is really important, helping teachers 
teach and helping children learn. But again it becomes a question of 
accountability.
  So when we hear the litany of fictions brought to this well, and when 
we hear the recitations of the gloom and doom, understand this: How can 
we entrust the Washington bureaucrats when these folks cannot even 
account for $18 billion of our money? We do not put out a fire by 
throwing gasoline on it, nor do we solve problems always by throwing 
money. Spending money wisely, empowering parents, teachers, local 
leaders, Mr. Speaker, that is the way we improve education, and by 
getting dollars to the classroom instead of the bureaucratic cesspools 
where they remain unaccounted for.

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