Tom Harkin: “this is a very simple, fully offset amendment that will restore a cut in title I funding to three States without harming…”

“this is a very simple, fully offset amendment that will restore a cut in title I funding to three States without harming or hurting any other State. The fiscal year 2003 Labor-HHS appropriations bill that Congress passed in February included a 13 percent increase for title I, the most important Federal program in the No Child Left Behind Act. At the time the Congressional Research Service projected every State would receive a sizable increase over the previous year. But 4 months after the bill was passed, new data from the 2000 census showed that three States would actually get less title I money in fiscal year 2003 than they did in fiscal year 2002. Those three States are Iowa, Maryland, and Michigan. Their total cut in title I funding is $4.4 million. The Congress did not intend for any State to get a cut in title I. I recently had a meeting with Secretary Paige about this matter. We had a full and frank discussion. He agreed to find an offset from Education Department funds that would otherwise lapse at the end of the fiscal year. Again, let me make it clear, none of the title I money in this amendment will come from any other State. It is fully offset by Education Department funds that will not otherwise be spent. Secretary Paige has signed off on the amendment. So has Senator Specter, chairman of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee. I urge my colleagues to support it.”