Katie Porter: “Mr. Chairman, there is nothing wrong with the program that the gentlewoman wants to fund. In fact, for years I was a…”

“Mr. Chairman, there is nothing wrong with the program that the gentlewoman wants to fund. In fact, for years I was a very strong supporter of that program. The question, however, is where it is to be funded. We have made a very strong effort, and this is some of what we are talking about in making government work better for people. We have made a very, very strong effort in approaching our bill over the last two cycles, this being the second cycle, to take small programs that are very expensive to administer and put them into larger programs where they can be administered much more effectively and efficiently and this is one that we did that to. This is a program that is presently not funded. Why not? Because the money is put into education research and improvement, and the program can be carried out there very easily. Now the gentlewoman would want to take the money out of education research and improvement and put it back into a separate line item for women's educational equity. I suggest that that is wonderful symbolism, and we all are concerned about women's educational equity. I am and I have supported it for a long, long time. But I do not see the point of doing that.”