Dick Durbin: “Is it unfair, then, to bring this together and say if we are going to see this President continue to put unfunded…”

“Is it unfair, then, to bring this together and say if we are going to see this President continue to put unfunded mandates on schools and not put the Federal dollars into education, and we are going to see education cut back at the State and local level, that is going to lessen the opportunity for children to pick up the skills and education they want? This is no way to deal with an unemployment problem. Frankly, it is a way to guarantee that that problem is going to become chronic and long term because we are not investing in making young people productive and educated. So the No Child Left Behind program and the unfunded mandate by the Bush White House really was lost to this whole argument about tax cuts. The President says we need tax cuts for jobs and growth. It just hasn't worked. As the Senator from Nevada reported today--I forget the number--it has been over 100 months since we have had such high unemployment.”