[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16078]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EDUCATION FUNDING

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I'm concerned that 
education, the most powerful tool we have to build our economy, is 
being ignored.
  Yesterday was my granddaughter Brooklyn's 7th birthday. A few months 
ago, Brooklyn's parents asked her if she could have her birthday 
anywhere she wanted to, where would it be. To her parents' surprise, 
she said she wanted to celebrate right here in the Capitol. So last 
night, we celebrated Brooklyn's birthday right here in the Capitol 
Building.
  I like to think she chose the Capitol because it represents the 
opportunity each of us has to make people's lives better. 
Unfortunately, we are failing to uphold the obligation we have to 
Brooklyn and millions of American children. Senate Republicans have 
blocked just a vote on the President's American Jobs Act. It would have 
provided $60 billion to save the jobs of teachers, put Americans to 
work rebuilding schools, and helped community colleges.
  Nearly 300,000 teachers have already lost their jobs since 2008. 
Another 280,000 more may be out of the classroom if we don't do 
something now. Now is not the time to be laying off teachers. It's not 
the time to surrender the leadership in math and science to foreign 
countries.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans can't wait. We should put people to work 
rebuilding our crumbling schools. We should be working to transform the 
prestige of teachers in our culture. Teaching requires high skill and 
should be rewarded with high pay and be the preferred profession of the 
best and the brightest. Brooklyn deserves it and all American children 
deserve it.

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