Joe Pitts: “I rise to bring another example of wasted Federal education tax dollars to your attention. Through the Department of…”

“I rise to bring another example of wasted Federal education tax dollars to your attention. Through the Department of Education, we funded an education study entitled, ``The Development of Critical Television Viewing Skills in Elementary School Students.'' Our kids do not need Federal assistance to watch television to develop, ``television viewing skills.'' Rather, they should be learning to read and write, finding solutions to math problems and perform science experiments. While American schoolchildren lag behind the rest of the developed world in basic academic skills, our Federal education dollars are paying for our children to watch television effectively. If my colleagues believe that Federal education dollars should be made available to kids in classrooms instead of funding studies like this one, I urge them to cosponsor the dollars to the Classroom Act, which will require 95 cents of every Federal dollar to be used in the classroom where learning basic skills occur.”