Education
Democrats are committed to ensuring all Americans have access to a high-quality education. If our nation is going to remain the world’s leader, we must not lag our global competitors in education. Democrats are focused on making higher education and skills training more accessible, reducing high school dropout rates, and providing students with the support they need to secure well-paying jobs. From day one, the Trump Administration has undermined protections for and disinvested in America’s students. President Trump’s budget proposes to cut teacher training and literacy programs and reduces funding for the schools and communities most in need. Congressional Republicans have also proposed extreme funding bills that dramatically cut education and job training programs, threatening our ability to build a competitive workforce and help more Americans find good-paying work. Democrats are fighting to protect families from these harmful cuts and have a strong record of making investments that will strengthen education. Democrats have increased Pell grants, cut red tape in the loan process, and made it easier to repay student loans once students join the workforce. Democrats also enacted a major reform bill that ended wasteful taxpayer subsidies to big banks and directed the savings to helping students instead. Democrats also made record investments in community colleges and minority-serving higher education institutions.
Today the House will consider the Every Student Succeeds Act Conference Report, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
This Sunday marks the fiftieth anniversary of President Johnson signing the Higher Education Act into law. That landmark legislation, part of the President’s ‘Great Society’ initiative, made significant federal investment in our nation’s colleges and universities, with the goal of helping more students access quality, affordable higher education that leads to good jobs and a more competitive workforce.
We’re here today because the future of this country is being threatened by the Republican policy of sequestration.
Today, the Senate took a major step forward to promote the full-service community schools model across the country, adopting as an amendment to the Every Child Achieves Act the language of the Full Service Community Schools Act that I’ve introduced for several years in the House.
I am disappointed that House Republicans advanced a flawed and partisan reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that disinvests in America’s public schools.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the COMPETES reauthorization act, which is an attempt to disinvest, in my view, in research, innovation, and education at a time when we ought to be investing in those areas even more greatly.
This week, the House will vote on H.R. 1806, House Republicans’ partisan bill to reauthorize the America COMPETES Act. Unlike the original bill in 2007 and the reauthorization in 2010, which both passed with strong bipartisan support, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015 was reported by the Science Committee on a party line basis and has no chance of being signed into law.
Today, I join in marking the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Head Start, one of the Johnson Administration's key anti-poverty initiatives and still one of the most important investments we make toward closing the achievement gap.
Tomorrow marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to give all children – no matter their background – access to a quality education.
This week, House Republicans unveiled their budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2016. Congress should be making the tough choices needed to grow our economy and expand middle-class opportunities for American families, while promoting fiscal responsibility.