Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me this time.
I think it is extremely unfortunate that the Republican majority on the Committee on Rules has voted to deny this full body, all 435 Members of this Congress, the opportunity today to vote up or down on meeting the education commitments we have made to America's children. We many years ago said that the Federal Government was going to pay for 40 percent of the costs for special education; and as we sit here on this floor today, we are only at 18 percent. I know that in campaigns throughout this country when we all go before school boards, Republicans and Democrats, when we talk to parents groups, we have all said how important it is to keep our promise and make that 40 percent commitment. I am very pleased and I want to thank the chairman of the full committee and the chairman of the subcommittee for giving us the opportunity to debate that very issue and vote on it in committee. I was disappointed that it failed on party lines, and I think it is important that this full House have an opportunity to debate that. This is the reauthorization bill. This is the one time for the next 5 years we are going to be taking up this issue. This is the time to do it.
For those who say it is not important, we should leave it to the appropriations process, I would say to those listening it is the difference between giving a guarantee today and rolling the dice every year with the Committee on Appropriations, and we know from history that we have been unable to meet that commitment rolling the dice every year. Now is the time to make the guarantee. Just a little over a year ago, the President signed the No Child Left Behind bill and promised a great deal of more resources to our States and our school boards in exchange for numerous responsibilities that we put upon them; and yet just a little over a year later, we are already failing to make our commitment on No Child Left Behind. This year we are $9 billion short. We need to meet our commitments we made on special ed more than 20 years ago. We need to meet our commitments we made in No Child Left Behind. We should not be pitting these groups against each other. There should not be competition in funds between special education and all other education. Let us vote today to provide our schools and our children the resources we have promised. Give this House an opportunity to do it. Why are we afraid to let 435 Members vote on that issue?