Karen Bass: “Mr. Chairman, I do have an amendment to offer. I had planned to offer a couple of amendments having to do with funding…”

“Mr. Chairman, I do have an amendment to offer. I had planned to offer a couple of amendments having to do with funding for IDEA, special education. But I have to say that within the constraints of the budget, the distinguished subcommittee chairman, my friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), has done an extraordinary job in raising funding for this critical program by $1.375 billion. I believe that is the greatest increase that we have had from this body since I have been here. It does not meet the objective of reaching 40 percent, or our mandate, within a specified period of 5 or even 10 years, but it recognizes, and certainly it is an extraordinarily commendable effort on the part of this subcommittee, and expresses the intent of this subcommittee chairman to meet this goal as quickly as possible. We do have opportunities on the horizon. IDEA will be up for reauthorization next year. It is my hope that we can combine the process of reauthorization with an effort to set this Congress on a path to meeting the 40 percent funding goal in a set period of time. I thank the chairman for his hard work in this area.”