[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6121]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE EVENTS IN BALTIMORE

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                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 30, 2015

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I want to join my friend and chair of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, G.K. Butterfield, in offering condolences 
to the parents and family members of Freddie Gray.
  I also want to say to Ms. Toya Graham that I feel and can appreciate 
her anguish and the pain that she showed the world a few days ago.
  I want to say to her son, Michael, that I have also felt his pain and 
anguish, having been on the receiving end of such discipline from my 
mother. But I want to say to him that he can rest assured that the love 
of his mother, her passion for his future, will pay great dividends if 
he continues to show the deference to her love and affection and her 
concern that he showed several days ago when he was the object of her 
frustrations.
  Mr. Speaker, responding to the situation in Baltimore several days 
ago, President Obama said: ``We can't just leave this to the police. I 
think there are Police Departments that have to do some soul-searching. 
I think there are some communities that have to do some soul-
searching.''
  But, he went on to say: ``I think we, as a country, have to do some 
soul-searching.'' I want to join President Obama in calling for the 
country to do some soul-searching.
  Let's take a look at just a few of the institutions of learning in 
the Baltimore Community.
  I would like to call attention to one school, Frederick Douglass High 
School, a school that lists among its graduates the likes of Cab 
Calloway, Thurgood Marshall, and as I understand it the school the 
father of the current mayor of Baltimore also attended.
  I understand there are 789 students at Frederick Douglass High School 
today. Eighty-three percent of them are listed in U.S. News & World 
Report's index as economically disadvantaged, and only 53 percent of 
them are listed as proficient in English, only 44 percent proficient in 
algebra.
  I understand that Carver Vocational Technical High is 100 percent 
minority, with 79 percent of the students economically disadvantaged. 
Coppin Academy, 100 percent minority, with 77 percent economically 
disadvantaged.
  Now, as we listen to all of the pundits, editorial writers reflect on 
what is taking place or has taken place in Baltimore, I would like to 
call attention to the lack of soul-searching that is taking place here 
in this body as we represent the people of America. We have just seen 
the conference report, or the budget, being proposed by the House 
Republicans. That conference agreement guts strategic investments in 
education, workforce training, public health, scientific research, 
advanced manufacturing, and public safety. It does nothing to help 
those Americans who are looking for jobs. It does nothing to boost 
paychecks of working Americans. It disinvests in America.
  The Republicans' budget disinvests in America by slashing the 
nation's commitments to education, research, infrastructure, and other 
crucial drivers of economic prosperity. It pulls away from the ladders 
of opportunity that helps hard-working Americans get ahead.
  In Education, the Republican Budget kicks 46,000 children out of Head 
Start, cuts $1.2 billion in Title I education funding (enough for 
17,000 teachers and aides serving 1.9 million students); cuts $347 
million in funding through the Individuals with Disabilities Education 
Act, (enough for 6,000 special education teachers, paraprofessionals, 
and related staff);
  The Republican Budget also decimates job creation. It eliminates job 
training & employment services for more than 2.4 million workers; and 
eliminates the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships, which serve 30,000 
small manufacturers that contribute to the creation of middle-class 
jobs and economic growth;
  In the area of Housing, the Republican budget takes Housing Choice 
Vouchers away from 133,000 families and eliminates affordable housing 
assistance for another 20,000 families in rural America;
  The Republican budget shreds the social safety net. It cuts $300 
billion from Agriculture Committee programs. The House budget cut 
roughly $200 billion. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 
(SNAP) is the largest spending program in this committee's jurisdiction 
and appears to be the primary target of this cut (despite the fact that 
80% of SNAP beneficiaries are children, elderly, disabled, someone 
caring for a child or disabled person, or are working);
  My Republican friends underfund veterans' programs. They are 
proposing $20 billion below the President's request over the next ten 
years.
  They also increase taxes on hardworking families while giving massive 
tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy. They increase taxes on a typical working 
family by $2,000, while giving millionaires an average tax cut of more 
than $200,000; and let the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and the 
Child Tax Credit expire.
  Their budget puts college out of reach for millions of students. It 
freezes the maximum Pell grant and eliminates $89 billion in 
congressionally approved Pell grant increases; and cuts total overall 
support for higher education by more than $220 billion in the next 
decade.

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