Daniel Akaka: “I yield myself 30 minutes to offer an amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill to add $5 million in funding to the…”

“I yield myself 30 minutes to offer an amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill to add $5 million in funding to the bill before the Senate for the Excellence in Economic Education Act. I thank amendment cosponsors Senators Allen, Sarbanes, Corzine, Kennedy, Stabenow, and Dodd for their support. Our leaders on the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, Senators Specter and Harkin, have been helpful in working with me on this effort. I appreciate the difficult job they have before them to remain within tight budget constraints imposed on us by necessary increases for military operations in Iraq and the newest round of tax cuts. I opposed the budget resolution and the tax bill because I knew that it could lead to this appropriations fight, spurred by unrealistic caps on important education, social welfare, and other domestic programs, pitting important priorities against each other. Despite these challenges facing the bill before us, I hope that we can work something out to have the Excellence in Economic Education Act, or Triple-E, funded. The Triple-E provides significant resources for economics and personal finance education, which are not receiving due attention by Congress.”