Judd Gregg: “A commitment we have an obligation to keep. Tell the special ed child that. Tell the special ed child, whose funds you…”

“A commitment we have an obligation to keep. Tell the special ed child that. Tell the special ed child, whose funds you are raiding. You are raiding those funds to start these new initiatives. That is where the funds are coming from. Every time the President goes to the podium to propose a new program, where does that money come from in education? It comes from the children. It comes from the special ed child. Why? Because this administration year in and year out has refused to fund special education. In fact, ironically, if you take all of the President's new initiatives, which have been thrown at us on poll number after poll number--every time he takes a poll, he puts out a new initiative. If you take all of his new initiatives on education, they, ironically, happen to add up to almost exactly the amount of money it would take for the Federal Government to fulfill its obligation to the special needs children of this country, an obligation which was made--a commitment, the term used by the other side, a commitment which was not made last fall in order to entertain the concerns of the teachers unions in this country; it was a commitment that was made in 1975-- 1975--when we passed 94-142, a law which said that the Federal Government would pay 40 percent--40 percent--of the cost of the special needs child.”