Terri Sewell: “I often don't come to the floor to speak, but I felt compelled on this particular bill, H.R. 5, to talk about it. Why?…”

“I often don't come to the floor to speak, but I felt compelled on this particular bill, H.R. 5, to talk about it. Why? Because I represent a district that has 90 percent of the public schoolchildren who live and receive reduced or free lunches and it is important for me to just state for the record that I think that a bill that takes away funding from public schools--targeted funding for low-income and poverty students--would be an abomination. This bill is here because of the work of Lyndon Johnson 50 years ago. It was a civil rights bill, frankly. Why? It was an acknowledgment that socially disadvantaged children needed additional help. Somewhere along the line, Mr. Chairman, we have lost as a nation the notion of ``our children.'' It is always ``my child,'' not ``our children.'' The CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.”