Mark Kirk: “because of the rapid reading of the bill, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) and I were both unable to offer our…”

“because of the rapid reading of the bill, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) and I were both unable to offer our amendments and worked out an agreement to offer it at this time. The amendment that I would have offered would have helped restore funding for the gifted education program under the Javitz program that funds programs in over 20 States and universities. It is this program that has helped out programs like the Bronx Project for creating urban excellence, serving 32,000 poor and minority students. Not only did this program help the gifted students, for example, in that school district, but it improved math and science scores, a 20 percent improvement for the entire school, not just gifted students. The Javitz program has supported programs in 125 State and local education districts since 1989, reaching two million students nationwide. A complete list of the program is available from the Department of Education. I am very concerned that this program was zeroed out. In my attempt to earmark the program, other programs under this title would have been seen as a potential cut, and my colleagues from Hawaii were very concerned about one program there. My concern now is that the program moves forward with zero for gifted education. And the attempted amendment was to correct that, because I do not think for the future of our country, for the future of science and math education that we should move forward with a zero appropriation for gifted education.…”