David Obey: “let me simply say that I have only been to Alaska once in my life. I have certainly never been in an Alaskan school. But…”

“let me simply say that I have only been to Alaska once in my life. I have certainly never been in an Alaskan school. But my grandfather taught me a long time ago, and I'm sure you have heard this many times in your own lives, but he used to say that nothing is more expensive in the long run than a badly educated child. And I don't care if that child comes from New Jersey or Wisconsin or Hawaii or Alaska, a badly educated child is a menace to society. Why, just imagine a badly educated child could grow up to be elected as a Member of Congress from New Jersey or Wisconsin. They could come into this Chamber filled full of all sorts of half-baked ideas, and the Congress would be plagued with having to spend hours and hours dealing with those ideas. I'm sure I've presented a few of the bad ideas myself to this House in that time. The point is that Alaska may seem remote and far away, but the fact is that there are special children who do have special needs. Does anyone really believe that we are spending enough on Indian education programs around the whole country, for instance? And yet, we're told by the administration that we ought to eliminate the program for Alaska Native students because they benefit from the Indian education programs. Well, I've got tribes in my own State, and I know how inadequate some of those schools are, though they're trying the best they can.”