Eva M. Clayton: “Mr. Chairman, this bill clearly demonstrates our Nation's commitment to education and to our youth, mostly words but not…”

“Mr. Chairman, this bill clearly demonstrates our Nation's commitment to education and to our youth, mostly words but not real resources. Where a Nation invests its resources indicates its priorities. Education should be our Nation's priority. This bill is blindness march toward a balanced budget, without consideration of the merits of the programs proposed to be cut or eliminated. But worse, this bill ignores the pain it will cause to the many children, youth, and elderly of America. This is a shame. The Labor-HHS bill is an obstruction to education. Half of the cuts in the bill--some $4.5 billion--comes from education. Fifty thousand disadvantaged children who need a little help in the beginning of our lives--at the onset of their education--will not get that help. Head start is cut by $137 million. Healthy Start is cut by 52 percent. Thousands of needy school children, in my congressional districts during their most important educational and formative years, will be without vital support. Title I is cut by $1.1 billion. Drug-free schools is cut by 59 percent. The Goals 2000 Program is eliminated, and, vocational education is cut by 27 percent. And, thousands of those school children, willing to work, who have found hoe in a mountain of hopelessness, will not be able to work. The School-to-Work Program is cut by 22 percent. And, worse, the Summer Jobs program is terminated.”