Political Quotes

“I have spent my entire life trying to make sure that every child has an equal opportunity for a quality education. But there has been nothing more frustrating than sitting here in the Congress of the United States to try to make that a reality. It is frustrating because over and over again year after year all I ever hear is if we have another program, if we have something else from the Federal level, if we do something more from the Federal level, things will improve. Well, they have not. Now, this is the wrong approach. Why is it the wrong approach? For 20 years, sitting in the minority, I tried to get the former majority to please put your money where your mandate was in special education. If you put your money where your mandate is in special education, do you realize How many millions of dollars extra each year the Member from New York who spoke would get? Let me give my colleagues a good example of what he would get in his district. The York City School District is a district of 49,000 people. The mandate from the Federal level for special education costs that district $6 million.”