Nita Lowey: “I was just walking by and I heard my distinguished colleagues referring to the important initiatives that are going to…”

“I was just walking by and I heard my distinguished colleagues referring to the important initiatives that are going to be discussed in the State of the Union, and I wanted to thank them because these issues are what people really care about. We all are coming back today, and most of us have had discussions in our district with seniors, visited schools, had many meetings, hearings on Medicare, on child care, on issues of concern to real people. My constituents wanted us to come here and solve problems. That is what this is all about. We are here to solve problems. My colleague referred to the terrible conditions of some of our schools. We talk about educating youngsters. We talk about standards. We talk about more teachers. But if the school buildings are falling apart, then it is pretty difficult to focus attention on the agenda in those buildings. I have visited some schools where there is plastic on the ceiling holding up the walls. These roofs have been leaking for years. And children are sitting in classrooms under conditions that I certainly do not think most of us would want our children to be in. So I was particularly pleased that, after all of us have been working many, many years to build support for partnership with local governments on school construction, that the President is taking a strong position to assist local governments to repair our schools.”