Political Quotes

“I rise in support of H.R. 366 as it reauthorizes the Perkins Act, which provides critical funding for occupational preparation and vocational and technical education at secondary and post-secondary education levels. It is the largest Federal investment in secondary education. Although I am concerned about some provisions of this bill, like the merger of tech prep into the basic State grants, on balance, H.R. 366 makes many improvements to current law, and I will vote to pass it. But let me say, we started the tech prep in North Carolina, and I share with my colleagues that merging raises some real concerns. More flexibility without more funding is not necessarily what we need. Talk to any educator, and what they need is resources to get the job done. The American people need to understand what this charade is about. Although H.R. 366 reauthorizes critically important education programs under the Perkins Act, Republicans in Congress last week passed a budget that eliminates those very same initiatives. Only in Washington, D.C. could Congress eliminate a program one week and reauthorize it the next week. In North Carolina, we have one of the strongest community college systems in this country. Our community colleges work in partnership with our universities and the public schools to provide career training and critical technical skills. My State has suffered hundreds of thousands of layoffs in recent years in agriculture, furniture and in the textile industry.…”