[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16881-16882]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EDUCATION FUNDING

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, there is troubling news on the 
education front. Yesterday, the Republican majorities on the House and 
Senate Appropriations Committees approved education budgets filled with

[[Page 16882]]

harsh cuts that will hurt families, students, schools, and teachers 
throughout the country.
  Unfortunately, the pattern is all too clear. Our Republican 
colleagues promise strong support for education and quietly break the 
promise. The bills unveiled yesterday contain a litany of broken 
promises on education.
  Obviously, money is not the answer to all the problems of our 
schools. But the way we allocate resources in the Federal budget is a 
clear expression of our Nation's priorities. And the priorities on 
education reflected in this Republican Appropriations bill are 
profoundly wrong.
  In January 2002, President Bush promised that ``America's schools 
will be on a new path of reform . . . our schools will have greater 
resources to meet those goals.'' But yesterday, on a strict party-line 
vote, our Republican colleagues voted to cut funding for the No Child 
Left Behind Act by $200 million. We have raised standards and raised 
expectations on schoolchildren. We intend to hold schools accountable 
for better performance. Yet now the Republican majority wants to cut 
funding for school reform.
  President Bush promised that we would ``leave no child behind,'' and 
that became the title of the landmark school reform bill he signed into 
law a year and a half ago. But yesterday, behind closed doors, our 
Republican colleagues approved a budget that leaves 6 million children 
behind. It underfunds the title I program for needy children by over $6 
billion. Under the Republican education budget, needy children will not 
get smaller classes, will not get supplemental services, and will not 
get special attention in reading and mathematics.
  In March last year, President Bush promised to support teachers, 
making sure they ``get the training they need to raise educational 
standards.'' But yesterday, Republicans on the Appropriations 
Committees proposed to cut 20,000 teachers from professional 
development programs. They proposed to eliminate training for teachers 
in technology.
  We need to upgrade teacher quality, not downgrade teacher training. 
The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to give every classroom a 
high quality teacher. They need more resources, not fewer resources, to 
reach that goal.
  President Bush promised that his administration ``will promote 
policies that expand educational opportunities for Americans from all 
racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.'' But yesterday, our 
Republican colleagues approved a budget that cuts 32,000 children from 
education programs in English as a Second Language. They want to 
eliminate the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship program. They want a zero 
increase in Pell grants, a zero increase in campus-based financial aid, 
and a zero increase in College Work Study.
  President Bush promised to increase AmeriCorps by 25,000 volunteers. 
Two weeks ago, the Administration told us that AmeriCorps programs 
would be cut by 25,000 volunteers.
  Clearly, Federal resources are being limited unfairly because of the 
massive tax breaks already enacted that benefit the wealthy. If we 
freeze future tax breaks for the wealthy, we can obtain the resources 
we need for education.
  In the Senate and the House, Senator Byrd and Congressman Obey have 
shown impressive leadership on this issue. Instead of providing 
millionaires with an average tax cut of $88,000 each as the President 
proposes, they would use the savings to fund the No Child Left Behind 
Act, invest in teachers, and help students pay for college.
  But the Republican majority rejected those amendments. The Republican 
majority voted to give $88,000 to each millionaire and to cut funds for 
education. These are the wrong priorities for America, and we are going 
to oppose them on the Senate floor.
  Next week on the Fourth of July, we will all celebrate our Nation's 
founding values, values whose preservation depends heavily on the 
quality of education of each generation. As Senators go home to their 
States for the recess, they should ask constituents whether they give 
higher priority to tax breaks for millionaires or to education. They 
should ask their constituents if they value investing in school reform 
and improvement. They should ask teachers what they think of a cut in 
the No Child Left Behind budget.
  If we intend to hold schools and students accountable, Congress has 
to be accountable, too.
  On this Fourth of July, let's reflect on our history, on the need to 
keep our promises, and on the importance of building a better future.

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