Patty Murray: “I rise to thank Senator Harkin for his work on this amendment. I've supported this proposal in a free-standing bill, and…”

“I rise to thank Senator Harkin for his work on this amendment. I've supported this proposal in a free-standing bill, and today I'm proud to be an original cosponsor of this bipartisan amendment. And as an appropriator, I have special concerns I want to share. We agree as a country that we need to work together, in partnership at the Federal, State, and local levels, to make sure that students with special needs get the support to succeed. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, the Federal Government is supposed to provide 40 percent of the average per student costs. But we all know that the Federal Government has not paid its share. This amendment will make sure the Federal Government meets its obligation to support special education. This amendment will bring us to full funding in 6 years. This amendment also has another important advantage. By moving IDEA funding from the discretionary side to the mandatory side, we will free up about $7.1 billion for education. That money can be used to pay for the costs the underlying bill imposes on States. As I have mentioned before, the underlying bill creates a number of expensive, and unfunded, mandates on States in areas like testing and accountability. We can not just demand that students pass tests. We have got to give them the tools to pass those tests. But funding all the requirements in this bill will be difficult because of the limits imposed by the President's tax cut.”