David Obey: “without this amendment, this committee bill is the first step in a 6-year process that will reduce the investment that…”

“without this amendment, this committee bill is the first step in a 6-year process that will reduce the investment that we make in our kids by 20 percent in real dollar terms. I do not think, and I do not think that the country thinks, that this is the way to prepare for the 21st century. The children we are sending into the world of work today are going to have to be better prepared, better educated, better trained than any kids in the history of this country, if they want to get decent-paying jobs and provide a decent standard of living for their families. They do not do that, they are not going to be in a position to do that if we short-sheet this bill, if we short-sheet our ability to help the kids who are most difficult to educate in this country to get ahead. This amendment, I apologize for the fact that it is so small because, even after this amendment, it still leaves us some $5 billion below the funding level for education and training that was contained in the bipartisan coalition bill on the budget just a couple of months ago. It is the very, very, very least that we should do to provide adequate education for our young people. It is far less than we can afford to do, but it is at least a nominal step forward from the committee bill. I strongly urge passage of the amendment.”