Lloyd Bentsen: “It is not inconsistent with what this Congress has done in the past. In 1985 we passed the Emergency Immigrant Education…”

“It is not inconsistent with what this Congress has done in the past. In 1985 we passed the Emergency Immigrant Education Act to deal with the 1981 Supreme Court ruling that affected our school districts, so we have taken action in the past to have the Federal Government step in and make reimbursements for costs which should be borne by the Federal Government. Here today we are talking about taxpayer money from the States, and turning around and saying how we are going to allocate it back to the States under certain sorts of mandates. I understand what the bill is trying to achieve, but we have to remember those are the same taxpayers who are shelling out millions of dollars in order to build prison after prison, as we have in Texas probably more that just about any State in the Union. So at the same time we are coming back, and I am a little concerned we may be penalizing States that are trying to address this problem, and at the same time this is a problem that is beyond their control. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government.”