Press Conference RE: Funding for the No Child Left Behind Act

PRESS CONFERENCE RE: FUNDING FOR THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): Well, I really appreciate Tom Harkin, the superintendent, and all of my colleagues here today to send a very strong message that we cannot leave our children in this country with an unfunded mandate that requires our schools to do what they want to do without the funds to be able to do it.

I can't help but stand here, as Senator Bingaman said, without this voice in my ear saying we can't provide a budget that's a tin cup budget, as Paul Wellstone told us so many times, for our kids out in districts across this country and require them to live up to this accountability, without giving them the money they need. And that's exactly what the president's budget is doing.

I was out in my state over the break and talked to many, many kids in many, many schools. And everywhere I went, administrators, teachers, superintendents, principals came up to me and said, "We are trying to do the right thing. We want our kids to learn. We want to live up to the accountability that you all have set for us, but we can't do it without the money there. And who we are hurting are our children, who none of us want to fail."

I think that this chart is extremely instructive. The president is proposing a dividend tax provision of $36.4 billion, that almost everyone agrees won't stimulate the economy. Why not use this money to stimulate the minds of young children, give them an education, allow them to be productive adults, and allow our country to be strong in the future. That would be a much better buy for all of us.

Thank you. (Applause.)