Harry Reid: “while the two Senators have been discussing this amendment, we should not be diverted from the fact that this amendment…”

“while the two Senators have been discussing this amendment, we should not be diverted from the fact that this amendment is related to specific programs that help Hispanic children in America today. Dropout prevention, of course, is one of those programs. We cannot lose the goal we are attempting to accomplish in this amendment, and that is that we help people, and there are various programs I discussed earlier today that are set forth in detail in the amendment before the Senate. There is nothing more important than the dropout prevention program, but there are programs that are just as important to which this amendment is directed. We are talking about, of the tens of billions of dollars in Federal programs that go to education, $200 million that will be directed to specific programs that will save our country huge amounts of money. It is estimated by some groups that for every dollar we spend in these programs which are the subject matter of this amendment, the Government will save up to $10. I appreciate the discussion that has been held this morning between the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from New Mexico dealing with dropouts, but this amendment deals with far more than just that program.”