Burgess Owens: “everybody loses in this bill. This is not a bill to invest in American education, the kind of new investment we need.…”

“everybody loses in this bill. This is not a bill to invest in American education, the kind of new investment we need. This is a bill to move money around. This is a Houdini bill. This is a swindle. This is a con game brought to us by the people who wanted to abolish the Department of Education in 1994. They wanted to reduce education funding by $4 billion in 1995. This is another way to do the same thing that the voters have already rejected. This is an abolishment of Federal authority in the area of education. Already the States have most of the authority. We only have 7 percent of Federal expenditures, therefore, Federal's influence and control can be no more than 7 percent. The other 93 percent of the authority to make decisions, the authority to have our education system is in the hands of the States already. If education is in a bad state, it is because the States have made it so. Giving them more money from the Federal Government will not help the matter. When World War II started, we were unprepared to fight a war. The draftees were in bad health from across the country from various States because the States had neglected them. Their health was poor. We had to have Federal intervention to deal with that. We were approaching the 21st Century, and we are not going to be prepared for global leadership because we are not allowing the Federal Government to exercise the minimal influence that it has been exercising to try to improve education in the States.”