John Spratt: “I yield myself 2 minutes. I said earlier that this is an excellent opportunity to show the difference between Democrats…”

“I yield myself 2 minutes. I said earlier that this is an excellent opportunity to show the difference between Democrats and Republicans. This document does that; but with respect to national defense, function 050, there is no difference, because to the dollar we have provided the same amount of funding as the Republican resolution. There is no difference. On the other hand, with respect to education, there is an enormous difference because the Republican budget resolution cuts education by $45 billion over 5 years below what we call the level of current service, staying where we are. Last year, for the first time in 17 years, the President requested less for education in 2006 than was appropriated in 2005; and this year, he asked for an even larger reduction, $2.2 billion less in 2007 than appropriated for 2006, and these cuts come on top of big cuts, crippling cuts in federally guaranteed student loans. To discuss further the impact and consequences of these enormous cuts in education, which our resolution does not provide for--we fully restore education to current services, fully restore the cuts they would make--is Ron Kind of Wisconsin, a member of the Education Committee, and I yield him 6 minutes for that purpose.”