Mike Honda: “I would just like to address myself to the two gentlemen from New Jersey and from Georgia with a question: Have you ever…”

“I would just like to address myself to the two gentlemen from New Jersey and from Georgia with a question: Have you ever administered and run a school, a title I school, that has an ESEA program? No. Mr. Chairman, it is really easy to criticize and throw darts at projects or even employment, if you will, when you have no idea of what you are talking about. I was a principal of two elementary schools. Both were title I schools. Both had ESEA funding. The Federal law at that time, it is probably still in existence, said that Federal funding cannot supplant local funding. So if you are saying that this is duplicative, it isn't. It is supplementary. It is to enhance the programs that are already existing. And the Federal Government has the responsibility to help programs and help youngsters in this country. It is common knowledge that the State has the primary responsibility of education in their States, but the Federal Government has responsibility also. And in their good judgment in the past when they established the ESEA programs, they saw the need to help States fulfill their responsibilities. Mr. Chairman, it is probably easy to poke holes into something you don't know anything about. It is probably even easier to criticize something when you have no experience and no one is going to challenge that. Mr. Chairman, I am here to challenge their premise, and would ask my colleagues not to support this amendment.”