[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19599]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         A CRISIS IN EDUCATION

  Mr. JEFFORDS. First, I commend my good friend from California for her 
excellent statement and revealing to the Nation the seriousness we have 
in the ability to provide jobs with qualified workers. Just this past 
decade, we brought 4 million workers into this country to take the 
high-skilled jobs of our Nation because we could not provide them from 
our own school systems. Yet we have thousands and thousands of 
unemployed and unskilled workers who have managed to get through our 
school systems without the necessary skills.
  We have a crisis in this Nation, and we have had it for years, and 
that is in education. This administration is totally ignoring the fact 
that where we should be putting the funds is in preventing this 
necessity of having to bring in workers from foreign nations, whether 
it be from Europe or elsewhere. Most of them come from Asia now. 
Millions and millions are coming in. Yet our own young people in this 
country do not have the skills because their school systems are 
failing. And we are cutting back and back on the funding for education 
in this Nation.
  This administration recognizes we have a problem and realizes our 
children need help; we have the Leave No Child Behind Program. But we 
have no funding to prevent the terrible situation that was just 
outlined by the Senator from California. I praise her for that. But 
let's wake up and do something about it rather than bringing in 
millions and millions of workers from Asia to take the jobs that our 
young people ought to have the skills to take.

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