[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10739]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   REJECT REPUBLICAN EDUCATION COSTS

  (Mr. ETHERIDGE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on this House to 
reject the Republican leadership's bill to cut education to pay for a 
massive tax cut. This Congress must invest in our schools so that 
students get individual attention, discipline and quality instruction 
so they can learn the skills that they need to succeed in the new 
economy.
  But the Republican bill would cut $2.9 billion from next year's 
education budget. It does not provide one plug nickel to repair 
crumbling schools or to build new schools to get our children out of 
trailers.
  No school can provide adequate education if children are subject to 
substandard facilities.
  Mr. Speaker, budget choices are about values. Do we not value 
investment in our Nation's future by providing our children unless we 
give them the best education they can have in this world? Or do we take 
this opportunity to fritter away the future by acting like drunk 
sailors with the Republicans' massive irresponsible tax scheme?
  I support responsible tax relief for middle-class families, but we 
must not raid the Treasury and jeopardize our ability to make 
investments in our children and in our future.

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