Political Quotes

“I rise today in a bipartisan way to speak about a program that I think is widely applauded by most people in this House, and that is Head Start. It is a program that has certainly worked well in my district. I think it has worked well across the country, and it has worked well because it does good things and it has a performance record that we can all talk about. It is a program that is designed to provide nutrition, health screening and treatment, education, and social services to preschool-aged children and to their parents, and it has contributed greatly to our efforts to help those kids do better as they get older and to help to win the war against poverty in this country. In my community of Tucson, AZ, 70 percent of the children served by Head Start are bilingual, and through this program, these children learn English better so that they can go to kindergarten with a better knowledge to start out of their schooling on the right footing, an that helps them stay in school. That helps everyone, the kids, their parents, and the community. Mr. Speaker, for years Head Start has enjoyed strong bipartisan support, and in these austere budgetary times, that support has continued. I urge my colleagues to continue to provide adequate funding.”