Political Quotes

“I am here to outline certain changes to my amendment that was accepted as part of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations Act as passed by the Senate. These changes will be submitted to the House-Senate conference committee. My amendment, No. 1122, would block grant funds from several K-12 education programs in the Department of Education and send those funds directly to school districts. These changes have been incorporated into a new draft of the amendment. The genesis of the changes is a series of discussions with my colleagues in the Senate and other interested parties. While these changes correct minor drafting errors, they do so without changing the overall philosophy of the amendment. The most significant of the changes exclude from the block grant entirely any funds from the Adult Education, Vocational Education, and Rehabilitation Services programs, programs not primarily directed at K-12 education. Other programs excluded from the block grant are: Indian Education, the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program, Arts In Education, Star Schools Program, and Technology Innovation Challenge grants. Finally, the distribution of bilingual education funds is changed.”