Lateefah Simon: “first of all, in response to what Senator Specter had to say, we are not asking that these funds be taken out of the…”

“first of all, in response to what Senator Specter had to say, we are not asking that these funds be taken out of the Ryan White Program or NIH. Everyone knows the budget figures are not written in stone yet. Ask the American people, instead of a $245 billion tax cut, should we have a $240 billion tax cut or $5 billion more for education, and 90 percent of the American people would say, ``Let's do that.'' Every economic study that has been made--conservative, liberal, whatever--says we have to do more in education in this country, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Yet, you look at those figures on the graph back there that Senator Kennedy has, and they are even warped to this extent: They do not count inflation. When you eliminate inflation, for example, on that $900 million, that brings it down to about zero for 1995. When you add inflation to the $3.1 billion cut, that brings it up to a $4 billion cut. What does this mean in practical terms? The Chicago School District really is a struggling school district, and they see us cutting back. They get 15 percent of their funds from the Federal Government. They are making the assumption, on the basis of these 25 percent cuts, that they will get 18 percent less Federal funding. That may be optimistic. On the basis of that, they are planning to discharge 600 teachers.…”