Political Quotes

“I brought this chart up here because we talk about numbers. I want people to understand, we are not talking about a static number. We are talking about the growth in the number of students in high school over the next 10 years, the greatest we are facing in this Nation's history in terms of numbers. So if we are talking about how much we have increased the budget, we need to reflect. We have not increased it anywhere near what we need to be increasing it to meet the needs. We need to pass the Lowey amendment, to restore the administration's plan to assist our local schools in repairing the schools that need to be repaired instead of this massive tax cut that we are talking about. As a former superintendent of my State schools, I know firsthand that we need to invest in schools to help our children get individual attention, to have proper discipline and instruction that they need to meet the skills of the 21st century, and this $1.3 billion will restore 5,000 local schools that badly need it. We can see from this chart that would only be a scratch in where we need to go. Mr. Chairman, there is a lot that needs to be done. I grew up on a farm, and there is one thing a person understands. One does not eat the seed corn, and this Congress is about to do that. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Lowey amendment that restores the administration's plan to assist repair plans for local school buildings.”