Arlen Specter: “the objective of school construction is a very laudable one. I have supported Federal intervention and assistance on…”

“the objective of school construction is a very laudable one. I have supported Federal intervention and assistance on school construction. This was a cause championed by former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun. The grave difficulty with the amendment is that there is no money in the budget resolution to pay for it. In the budget resolution which was voted on in the 105th Congress, there was a resolution relating to public school construction. It was supported by only three Republicans at that time--Senator Campbell, Senator D'Amato, and myself. Regrettably, the resolution did not pass. But at that time I recorded my support for the principle of construction which would be assisted in the Federal budget. A similar matter arose on April 1, 1998, when the issue in the budget resolution was building schools. On that occasion, Senator D'Amato and I supported the resolution, which regrettably was tabled on a vote of 54 to 46. So the issue with which we are confronted now, in a very practical sense, much as we want to support education--and this bill has $53.5 billion in education funding--it is at an all-time high.”