Thomas Daschle: “I want to commend Senators Specter and Harkin for the commitment they have made to educational funding levels that are…”

“I want to commend Senators Specter and Harkin for the commitment they have made to educational funding levels that are represented in this bill. They certainly have demonstrated, I think, the extraordinary need for investment in education in ways that we have not seen in recent years. I am very grateful for their leadership and their responsiveness to many of these issues. The overall funding level for education is now well over the level requested by the President. There still is some unfinished business that needs to be addressed, and this amendment addresses two very significant concerns. I am introducing, with Senator Kennedy, this sense-of-the-Senate amendment to draw attention to two places where, in our view, more action is needed to fulfill the budget agreement agreed to earlier this year. This amendment will call on Congress in the form of a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to authorize and increase Pell grant funding to support both independent and dependent students and, second, to fund a child literacy initiative at $260 million for this fiscal year. I don't think there is much disagreement that Pell grants are an indispensable source of college aid for low- and middle-income students, but the current eligibility rule shortchanges too many students today.”