Jim Nussle: “I am trying understand here, when we talk about the other side where it is just talking about the fact that we are not…”

“I am trying understand here, when we talk about the other side where it is just talking about the fact that we are not living up to our commitments. Just so everybody knows, there are some other charts here that we want you to see. Total education: Annual growth over the last 5 years in the education accounts averaged 11 percent per year in those 5 years. So when we hear this lament that we are not spending enough on education, here are the facts. Eleven percent. There is no other part of government that has been growing at that kind of rate. In fact, it is growing faster than national defense. Let me show you another one. Special education, over the last 5 years, the average growth was 19 percent. While they are complaining about special education, we have not seen the final total, but I will bet they do not fully fund special education in their budget. I bet they do not reach that, do they? They just complain about it. Yes, they say they give a little bit more, but we have been providing 19 percent per year. Spending has more than doubled over the last 5 years for special education. Last but not least is No Child Left Behind. The No Child Left Behind program funding has grown 40 percent under this President.”