Haley Stevens: “I regret that I must take the position we have to take on this amendment. It provides emergency funding for communities…”

“I regret that I must take the position we have to take on this amendment. It provides emergency funding for communities that have summer school programs. But as we look at it, the priority is given to communities that have had to eliminate or cut back on programs due to State or local budget reductions. We increased the money in the budget for 2002 by $150 million above the 2001 budget in this area. Having increased it $150 million, the State and local governments reduced their effort. And now the Senator wishes us to make up the reduction brought about by local and State reductions which they took because we had provided Federal money to assist them in the area. It is a never ending cycle if we do that. But beyond that, I call attention to the fact that we are already in June. There is no way in God's heaven we are going to get this bill to the President before July. The normal processes of releasing money would not get the money to them before September, when the school year has started. This is no way to treat our emergency bill that is before us now to deal with emergencies of homeland defense, emergencies in defense, and other emergencies. There are emergencies. The Oklahoma bridge is an emergency. But this is not an emergency. They are not needed on an emergency basis. They cannot be spent this summer. I am compelled to oppose the amendment because of the circumstance we face.”