William Bryan: “I would like to preface my comments by commending my colleague and friend, the senior Senator from Florida, on what was…”

“I would like to preface my comments by commending my colleague and friend, the senior Senator from Florida, on what was truly a very thoughtful and very enlightening presentation, in terms of his efforts in developing the formula, the rationale and the cause for which he speaks, and that is to provide some sense of equity and fairness predicated on the basic proposition that children everywhere, irrespective of the States from which they come, are entitled to receive a fair and equitable allocation of Federal tax dollars providing for their benefit. I say with great respect and deference to him that whatever the merit in its origin that formula may have had certainly can have no continuing validity when the very basis upon which we are changing the law converts an entitlement program to a block grant program that has a cap attached to it with a very, very minimal margin to accommodate the growth of States such as my own and others, whose Senators I am sure will speak in behalf of this amendment, of 2.5 percent a year. So I come to the floor this evening to strongly endorse and to support the Graham amendment, the children's fair share allocation proposal.”