David Obey: “there is no question that if the majority party on the Committee on Appropriations were left to its own devices that we…”

“there is no question that if the majority party on the Committee on Appropriations were left to its own devices that we would have a very respectable and decent education appropriation bill. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) is a strong champion of education, and so is the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young). But the fact is when that committee began to move forward to produce such a bill which provided those increases for education, they were cut off at the pass by the most reactionary elements in the majority party caucus. Those elements went to leadership and said, if you appropriate one dime for education above the President's budget, we are going to bring down the labor, health, education bill. They further said that, until you produce an education funding level freeze at the level of last year for education, that they would not support any other appropriation bills. That is why we are wrapped around the axle. Let me continue with other categories. Title I, the No Child Left Behind Act promised that we would have an increase in funding of at least $4 billion this year. Instead, they got a $1 billion increase financed by other cuts in other education programs aimed at the same children. Then if we take a look at handicapped education, we increased them annually by over $1 billion over the last 3 years. We wanted to do so again on a bipartisan basis, both sides of the aisle. Under the President's budget, we cannot do that.”