Political Quotes

“Yesterday I proposed to the Rules Committee an amendment about making it in America, one more way we can build jobs here in this country by using our own tax money. In the charter schools legislation there is some $300 million a year authorized for the construction of charter schools, the enhancement, the improvement of those schools. Now, where will the material come from? Where will the heating and air conditioning systems be manufactured? Where will the lumber, the concrete, the other materials, the high-tech equipment come from? Will it be American-made, or will it be made over in China and imported into the United States? It seems to me we're about to use $300 million of our tax money, that is the American taxpayers' money, to build some schools, or to improve some charter schools. All well and good. But why don't we create some jobs in addition to that? Why don't we put into this bill an amendment that simply says that the Secretary of Education, in prioritizing the grants, shall give higher priority to those proposals that would use American-made equipment, American-made jobs? We can, and I thank my colleague from California, Mr. Lewis, for agreeing that we ought to be making it America. This amendment was rejected for reasons unknown to me by the Rules Committee, perhaps known to them. And if Mr. Dreier were here, or maybe I should ask Ms. Foxx, why was this objected to?…”