Frank Pallone: “The answer, obviously, is yes, we need to do it. I am trying today not to start out with a partisan statement, but the…”

“The answer, obviously, is yes, we need to do it. I am trying today not to start out with a partisan statement, but the bottom line, we know that when the President has tried over the last 2 years to come up with some kind of way to help with school modernization, the different bond proposals, the different ways of helping the local municipalities, the Republicans have just opposed all these things. So he just keeps coming up with innovative ways of trying to get this across. I think this is a great idea, and I have to say, I was listening to what the gentlewoman said about the need for smaller schools, modernization. Every district has this problem with either crumbling schools or overcrowded classrooms and the need for money to build new schools. I have the combination. My district is one where we have some smaller urban areas where I have seen crumbling schools that need new roofs and new gyms and all that, and other, more suburban towns that I represent where they are in trailers and they talk about how they may have to go to split sessions because there has been so much of an influx of new people, and they have not been able to keep up with it. I think the school modernization program is crucial.”