Jolene Unsoeld: “I rise today as a member of the Committee on Education and Labor to speak in opposition to the amendment offered by the…”

“I rise today as a member of the Committee on Education and Labor to speak in opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York. Mr. Chairman, we have been through this battle before. Any Member who opposes Federal mandates, particularly in the area of education, should vote no. I say to my colleagues, ``If you believe in getting government off people's backs, for goodness sake, don't impose this mandate because, if it passes, we undermine local control of schools.'' I said this before: Education has always been a local matter. This includes the education of our Nation's high school and postsecondary students. To deny a school's Federal funding because of its decision to prohibit military recruiting on campus clearly violates this principle. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to join with, among others, the American Council on Education, the American Bar Association, and the Department of Defense in opposing this amendment.”