Karen Bass: “Now, the bill before my colleagues, as we have previously discussed, raises special ed funding by $500 million from $5…”

“Now, the bill before my colleagues, as we have previously discussed, raises special ed funding by $500 million from $5 billion to $5.5 billion a year. This amendment that I offer here now will increase that funding further by $1 billion for a total increase of $1.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Now, at a subsequent time later on this evening, I intend to offer another amendment that will increase special education funding by an additional $200 million. It is my understanding that the gentleman from Wisconsin, (Mr. Ryan) plans to offer another amendment that will further increase this program by an additional $300 million, bringing the total funding for special education up to $2 billion, which is the amount that we agreed to try to attain in the resolution that we passed a couple of weeks ago. The net effect of this amendment will be to bring the total funding for special education up to $6.9 billion.”