Political Quotes

“books have the power to bring the world to any child, but it is an obsolete world children see in 75 percent of the books in Chicago public school libraries. Here is a sample of what students learn from many of these books. Russia is still part of the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall is still standing. And some of these books boldly predict that one day man will actually walk on the Moon. A recent study showed that 65 percent of the 100,000 public school libraries do not have adequate book collections. Recently the gentleman from Delaware [Mr. Castle] and I circulated a letter signed by 70 Members of Congress urging a strong new commitment to replacing outdated library books. There is good news. Earlier this week a congressional subcommittee agreed to invest $350 million to help public school libraries. That is an investment, Mr. Speaker, that will help take our public school libraries out of the dark ages and bring them back to the future.”