Thomas Daschle: “The Senator from Florida is absolutely right. We are being told we cannot fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act, which…”

“The Senator from Florida is absolutely right. We are being told we cannot fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act, which would require about $6.5 billion, most of which goes to those who are special needs children. Over $6 billion of it goes to special needs children. We cannot afford that, we are told, because the money just is not there. We are told we cannot afford the close to $1.9 billion our veterans need to fully fund the Veterans' Administration, for the health needs of the veterans, the very people returning from Iraq today. We are told the money is not available. We are told the money is not available to fully fund a highway bill this year. I am told we would need somewhere in the vicinity of $30 to $40 billion to fully fund the highway fund. We may not be able to do that because I am told the money isn't there, so I am very troubled. We are told we don't have the resources for funding of highways and housing and health care in America, but we have the money to fund housing and highways and health care in Iraq.”