Tom Harkin: “I respond to the Senator, it is a promise delayed. We promise these kids and their families we are not going to leave…”

“I respond to the Senator, it is a promise delayed. We promise these kids and their families we are not going to leave them behind, that they are going to have good teachers, good education--but not these kids, not this year, maybe not even next year but sometime in the distant future. But in the distant future these kids will be out of school and they will be ill-educated. They will not be fully productive members of our society. A day lost in education today is a day you cannot make up. A year lost to these students is a year that cannot be made up. That is why we have to put this money back, to make sure we meet our commitments. The bill before us would add just 289,000 students. We have 4.1 million out of 10.3 million needy students. The Republican bill would only add 289,000 students to that total. That does not even keep pace with the growing number of needy students in this country. They are falling backwards. This amendment would make it possible to serve another 2 million students--not 289,000 students, 2 million students--by funding title I at $16 billion. That is the level we committed to, if I am not mistaken, in the bill last year.”