Tom Harkin: “it is not just the teachers who are saying this, but business people say they need people who can read. Although they…”

“it is not just the teachers who are saying this, but business people say they need people who can read. Although they may not need highly skilled people, at least they have to be able to read and understand. Mr. President, our amendment will provide the offsets to pay for the increases in education and training programs recommended by title IV of this legislation. Again, we believe we have to provide for these now, not at some possible point in the future, as is in the underlying bill. The last thing we need to do is get mired down in the same old stuff that has already shut down the Government twice before. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, to match the desire to avert the education cuts with the resources to make sure the cuts will not happen. We need to make sure that the add-ons are paid for now so that teachers will not lose their jobs, children will continue to get title I services, and workers will get the training assistance they need to remain competitive. In closing, Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Specter for his work in this area and thank our staffs for putting this together.”