Bill Pascrell: “we have Federal investment in roads, bridges and prisons, but when it comes to schools for our kids this is a loss of…”

“we have Federal investment in roads, bridges and prisons, but when it comes to schools for our kids this is a loss of home rule all of a sudden. Bunk. For the Federal Government to help local communities pay the interest on capital bonding for school construction which would provide relief for our kids and relief for parents who pay the bill whether or not they have kids in those schools or not, this is our opportunity for better schools. This is our opportunity, and we need more teachers to help reduce class size, particularly for kids between the grades of pre-K and fourth and fifth grades. We need property tax relief in many States in this union, and this is the way to do it. One suggestion in conclusion: Why do we not give up the words, the simplistic liberal and conservative words? Mr. Speaker, the jig is up. They do not work any longer. We all know that the environment in which our children learn plays a direct role in the education that they receive. If we want our children to succeed in a modern economy, we must provide them with modern schools. That is why I adamantly support school construction and modernization funds. Unfortunately, the majority party does not want to provide our schools with these much needed construction and modernization funds. Instead, the Republicans believe that we should block grant our education funds to the states. Unfortunately, we have already found out what happens when we block grant these funds.”