Nydia M. Velazquez: “we are facing a tragedy in this country's education system. Now, I am not talking about the fact that children are being…”

“we are facing a tragedy in this country's education system. Now, I am not talking about the fact that children are being forced to learn in school buildings that are literally falling apart, in classes whose size are literally bursting at the seams. I am not talking about the fact that tens of thousands of children are being kept out of Head Start or the fact that hundreds of thousands of children are losing after-school programs. I am not talking about the fact that some areas, like Sunset Park in my district, do not even have high schools, making access to education difficult, if not impossible. No, these facts make us mad; they make us angry. They make parents around the country shake their heads and wonder just what exactly we are doing in this body. But these are not the tragedies I am talking about. The tragedy is that we know what we need to do, but, thanks to the Republican leadership, we are not doing it. In fact, judging by the Labor-HHS bill they are trying to pass, we are moving backwards, while another generation of our youth is in danger of being lost, and that is the tragedy.”