Chuck Grassley: “Today, I am joining my colleague from Florida, Senator Graham, in introducing the School Construction Financing…”

“Today, I am joining my colleague from Florida, Senator Graham, in introducing the School Construction Financing Improvement Act of 1999. The single most important source of funding for investment in public school construction and rehabilitation is the tax-exempt bond market. Tax-exempt bonds finance approximately 90 percent of the nation's investment in public schools. In my home state of Iowa over $625 million in tax-exempt bonds were issued to school districts in 1998 alone. There is a well-recognized need throughout the country for billions of additional new dollars in school construction and rehabilitation. A report from the General Accounting Office says urban schools alone need $112 billion in repairs over three years to bring their buildings back into working order. That same study says about 14 million children attend U.S. schools in need of extensive repairs, and about 7 million attend schools with life threatening safety code violations. American schoolchildren attending schools with leaky roofs, inadequate bathrooms, poor air quality, and unreliable fire protection equipment is an unacceptable state of affairs. We need to step up to the plate and address this issue, not only promptly, but also properly. The administration's proposed use of tax credit bonds is inherently unworkable and inefficient. The school districts in states all across this land need greater flexibility not more federal regulations and controls.”