Daniel Akaka: “the time has come to put our money into action and expand educational opportunities in science, math, and foreign…”

“the time has come to put our money into action and expand educational opportunities in science, math, and foreign languages. I began my professional career as an educator. Fighting to ensure a prosperous future for our country and for Hawaii's children is why I am in Congress today. I hope this year we will see real progress by the enactment of legislation to make a real difference, for both the short- and long-term, in science, math, and foreign language education. I applaud President Bush's call in his State of the Union Address for increasing the number of teachers in math and science and making college-level courses more available to low income high school students. It is unfortunate that the budget reconciliation bill recently passed by the House cut $12 billion from the Federal student loan program, while the tax reconciliation bill we considered last week provides $70 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy. I know I am not alone when I say supporting college level courses in high school is no substitute for going to college. We need both and more of each. Robbing Peter to pay Paul robs our youth of their future. We need to make a sustained commitment to addressing critical educational issues in science, math, and foreign languages. The President is correct that America's ability to compete in global markets, and to defend ourselves against foreign threats, depend on our ability to educate future generations.…”