Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004-Resumed

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004—RESUMED

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Reid-Bingaman amendment which addresses Hispanic educational opportunities. This is an extremely important measure.

Over the August recess, I had the opportunity to put together a summit of Hispanic elected officials, families, interested people, in my home State. There was an overwhelming turnout that day. We had everyone from elected officials to people who are active in the community or members of the Hispanic community who just wanted to come and find out what we were doing at the Federal level on issues that affected them. The No. 1 issue people talked about that day was education and opportunity for the young Hispanic students in our schools, in their communities, and across the country.

I was astounded to listen to leaders in the community, elected school board members, city council members, who told me that when they were growing up, very few people, if any people, looked at them and said: You can be a success. You can pass first grade—many of them had flunked first grade. You can go on to college. You can become something in this country.

I think it is so important that this amendment pass so we can put the education in place that says to these young students in our country today that we need them, we need them to be the next generation of engineers; we need them to be the next generation of teachers; we need them to be the next generation of CEOs. We are missing out on an entire young population and what they can give back to this country someday in leadership, in economics, in paying taxes, in being viable members of this community, if we do not fund opportunities for them today.

So I am very proud to be a sponsor of the Reid-Bingaman amendment and I encourage my colleagues to support it. It is really critical.

AMENDMENT NO. 1543

Mr. President, I also want to talk about the Byrd amendment that was offered yesterday. As we all know, children across the country this week are returning to school. We in the Senate now have a choice to make that will determine whether they are successful in school and, ultimately, in life. The choice is, really, will our country's most vulnerable children get the education they need? When we vote on the Byrd amendment, that is really what we are going to be voting on: Are we going to help low-income children succeed in school or are we going to leave them behind?

I thank Senator Byrd for his leadership on this amendment and on so many other important debates. This particular fight is one that will impact many children across the country. I am not talking about a few kids in a few classrooms. I am not talking about kids who are well off. I am talking about millions of children who are growing up in poverty today. These are kids who are in the most danger of falling behind right now, and they are the kids who most need our help.

Today, it is estimated that there are 9 million needy children in America. For many of them—in fact, for all of them—education is the only way out of the poverty they see before them. Often these children need extra help before and after school. They might need tutoring or mentoring or one-on-one attention from somebody who cares, from somebody who looks at them and says: You can be somebody; you can succeed in school; you can go on and be a success in this country. That kind of tutoring and mentoring and one-on-one attention needs to come from somebody they see in their everyday lives, and that is why this amendment is so important.

Fortunately, in this country today we try to provide that one-on-one help with a program called title I. That is a program that targets funding directly to disadvantaged children and to low-income schools, and it makes such a critical difference for so many of our vulnerable children today.

Unfortunately, this year, once again, the President has offered a budget that falls exceedingly short of what these kids need. The budget that has been proposed by the President and is now before the Senate would serve only 4.1 of those 9 million needy students in our country. That means we are helping fewer than half of those kids who need help in this country today. I think we can do better. I think we must do better, and the Byrd amendment provides $6.15 billion in additional funding for title I.

Let me help put that number into context for everyone. The Byrd amendment is going to help 6.2 million children. That is a huge improvement over the President's plan. If we just go with the President's budget, 2.1 million disadvantaged kids are going to be left behind. So I ask all of my colleagues, how do we leave behind 2 million children in this country? Do they not deserve a road out of poverty? Do they not deserve an education that will help them rise above tough circumstances? Of course they do. These kids will get the support they need if we pass the Byrd amendment.

The Byrd amendment is not asking us to do something new or extraordinary. It is asking us to do what Congress and this President said they would do nearly 2 years ago when we passed the No Child Left Behind Act.

That education act was passed on two related ideas, two promises: First, that we would hold schools accountable for their progress; secondly, we promised we would provide schools with the resources to meet those new requirements we were putting in place.

Both accountability and funding are needed to make progress. Since that act was passed 2 years ago, the second part of that promise has simply been abandoned.

I have been across my State, as I know all Senators have over the August recess, and I have talked with educators and visited classrooms. It is really clear that schools need help meeting these requirements. I think it is important to not forget
that our States today, in this economy, are in no position to provide the extra funding that Congress promised but has not delivered. Most of our States, including mine, are facing huge deficits and are cutting back on education and other priorities. So it is clear that the Federal Government needs to step in and provide this funding for our most vulnerable kids.It is not something new. It is something we said 2 years ago we would do.

I should also point out that this debate in the Senate is taking place as many schools are now getting the results of their State tests. In Washington State, a number of schools have been labeled as failing because of these test results. These schools need the resources now to improve. They want to improve. They want to be held to high standards. They want to meet the accountability standards we have put in place, but they cannot do it with the resources that have been provided.
Before I conclude, I commend Senator Byrd for the way he has chosen to fund this amendment. The Byrd amendment uses the exact same funding method that our Republican colleagues have used to fund their priorities. So if anyone criticizes the Byrd amendment, I do not see how they could argue against the funding source because it is exactly what has been done already.

With no real challenge on the funding size, that leaves us to debate the substance of this amendment. I do not see how anyone could vote to prevent millions of low-income children from getting the help they need in school.

So let me make the choice before us as simple as possible. A vote against the Byrd amendment is a vote to leave 2 million poor kids behind. A vote for the Byrd amendment will help those 2 million poor kids get a great education and lift them out of poverty. So I urge my colleagues to hear the voices of more than 2 million children who are depending on us as their lives hang in the balance.