Political Quotes

“I think the amendment offered by the Senator from Washington, Senator Murray, is a no-brainer. I want to say why I believe it is a no-brainer and why I believe it is prudent for the Senate to move ahead with it and approve it today. The Federal share of elementary and secondary education in this country has declined from 14 percent in 1980 to 6 percent of the share going to schools in 1998. Let me say this another way. Back in 1980, we funded 14 percent of elementary and secondary education needs; in 1998, we funded 6 percent of those needs. Essentially what Senator Murray is trying to do is raise the appropriation level by $200 million and say let's go do it. What does she want to do? She says, let's reduce class size. What does that mean? In 1999, we spent $1.2 billion on the first installment of hiring 100,000 new teachers all across this great country. The United States could hire 30,000 teachers under that appropriation; my State, California, could hire 3,322 teachers. President Clinton's request for this year, FY 2000, was $1.4 billion. That meant the United States could hire 8,000 teachers to continue that and California could hire an additional 1,100 teachers.”