David Obey: “This bill is the anti-education appropriation act of 1995, pure and simple. It cuts 18 percent out of what we…”

“This bill is the anti-education appropriation act of 1995, pure and simple. It cuts 18 percent out of what we appropriated just last year for Federal education programs. That means almost one out of every 5 dollars that was there a year ago will not be there this year. It takes almost $2.5 billion away from local school districts, and that is most assuredly going to result in lower quality and higher property taxes. And it does it all to provide a $20,000 tax cut for people making $350,000 a year. I would suggest there are an awfully lot of people in society who make that amount of money, who recognize that if they have to choose between getting a $20,000 tax cut at that bracket, and seeing to it that the basic education structure of this country is sound, they will opt for education, because they know they cannot in the end disconnect from society. You cannot achieve success by working up the opportunity ladder yourselves, and then pull it on up so that someone else cannot use that ladder as well.”