David Obey: “The previous speaker leaves a false impression in the House because of his constant reference to budget resolutions…”

“The previous speaker leaves a false impression in the House because of his constant reference to budget resolutions rather than appropriations. Budget resolutions do not provide one dime for students. Appropriations bills do. The fact is despite the fact that the President of the United States made a big thing out of being for the No Child Left Behind authorization bill, there will be hundreds of thousands of children left behind under the budget that he proposed, which does not in any way match that original legislation. Example: Special education, the budget he proposed this year is one-half billion dollars below what it would have to be to meet the promises of the Individuals with Disabilities Act. In Title I, they are $4.6 billion below where they would have to be in order to meet the promised funding level under the No Child Left Behind Act, and even the small $1 billion increase in that package is paid for by cuts in other programs that affect the very same children who need help the most, and then you have in addition the President cutting the comprehensive school reform program by 24 percent, eliminating the smaller schools appropriations. So then if you take the children who are most at risk, because they have difficulty with languages, this budget on a pupil basis provides a 10 percent real reduction in programs to help children who have trouble with the English language. No child left behind, it sounds nice.…”