John Boehner

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, today I stand before you to recognize the retirement of Mrs. Kathleen Klink, Superintendent for the Lakota Local School District, and to express my appreciation for her dedication and commitment to education. For more than forty years, Mrs. Klink contributed her talents to the educational field, and for this, I offer her my utmost congratulations and thanks for her efforts. After graduating from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, receiving a masters in education from the University of Virginia and a post graduate degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Mrs. Klink began teaching in the Hamilton City Schools. From there, she traveled to Lewiston, Maine, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Wright State University in Dayton, until she arrived in the Lakota School District. Her extensive teaching career, in which she specialized in English, German, and Counseling Psychology, provided her with valuable experience and expertise. In 1981, Mrs. Klink became Assistant Principal at Lakota High School where she served for two years until taking over as Assistant Superintendent. Then, in 1994, Mrs. Klink advanced to Superintendent where she remained until her recent retirement. Throughout her professional career, Mrs. Klink received substantial recognition for her work including being named as the Ohio Superintendent of the Year, the Sam Walton Business Leader for Southeastern Butler County, and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators Exemplary Education Leader. Furthermore, she attended the Harvard Institute for School Leadership, the Ohio School Leadership Institute, and the Michael Fullan Leadership Seminar through the University of Toronto. Mrs. Klink's participation in numerous professional organizations, as well as her devoted service to community positions, exemplifies the strength of her leadership. For example, Mrs. Klink served on the West Chester Chamber Alliance Board of Directors, the Fitton Center for the Arts Board of Directors, and the Executive Board for the University of Cincinnati's Center for Economic Education. In addition, she is involved in the Ohio Association of Local School Superintendents, the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Society, and the American Association of School Administrators. Mrs. Klink's long list of publicized articles and also her guest presentations at the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Miami University, and Mt. St. Joseph College showcase her commitment to educational success. Mrs. Klink, I offer my congratulations and gratitude for your long and successful career in the field of education. I wish you well in your future endeavors, and I hope you continue to achieve happiness and success wherever your life journey chooses to lead you throughout your retirement.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, we are here today to discuss four important bills that make modest reforms to the Occupational Safety and Health Act. These bills will help enhance business competitiveness, encourage further job creation, but most importantly, they will help improve worker safety by promoting a cooperative climate between employers and OSHA that focuses on results. Last week, the Department of Labor reported that more than 3.7 million new jobs have been created since May of 2003, marking the 25th consecutive month of sustained job creation. But we want to make sure that onerous government regulations do not hamstring small businesses' ability to hire new workers and compete in our economy. That is why these bills are important, and that is why they are on the floor today. OSHA regulations are amongst the most complex and difficult legal requirements imposed on employers today. For many employers, especially smaller employers, compliance with OSHA regulations is a challenge even with help from experts. Many smaller work sites could make significant progress in reducing injuries and illnesses if OSHA would just lend them a helping hand through cooperative partnerships. These voluntary partnerships take nothing away from strong enforcement. They supplement traditional enforcement programs to help achieve the best results. These four bills remove the arbitrary and unintentional legal traps in current OSHA law that help hamstring better trust and voluntary cooperation between the agency and employers. While fairly modest in substance, these reforms are important to small business owners who struggle every day to comply with complex OSHA laws and provide a safe working environment for their workers while facing an increasingly competitive worldwide economy. Employers who make good-faith efforts to comply with OSHA standards deserve to be treated fairly and have their day in court. These commonsense bills will help ensure they receive that opportunity. These commonsense bills passed the House last year with bipartisan support, and they deserve every Members' support today. The rule before us is a fair rule, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the soldiers of the Ohio National Guard's 1487th Transportation Company. I would also like to pay my respect to their families and their employers who remained strong and supportive during their absence. The 1487th Transportation Company was mobilized in January 2004 and spent a year supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, providing truck transportation in the theatre of operation. The company logged over 230 missions, traveling over four million miles. The Iron Camels earned eight Purple Heart Awards, ten Bronze Star Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, five Bronze Star Medals with Valor Devices, forty-three Army Commendation Medals, twenty-three Army Achievement Medals, 121 Drive Badges, and twenty Mechanic Badges. Although their friends, family, and community celebrated the company's return stateside earlier this year, the 1487th will be honored this Saturday, July 2, 2005 as Preble County celebrates ``1487th Day.'' The residents of Preble County have organized ``A Tribute to America and Her Veterans,'' and in addition to honoring our veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, Preble County will also be honoring veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War era, and Desert Storm. Mr. Speaker, all of us here in Congress are grateful and humbled by the magnificent work our men and women in uniform have accomplished in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Southeast Asia. Their professionalism, dedication, and patriotism are shining examples of our American values, and we are grateful they stand between us and our enemies. The soldiers of the 1487th Transportation Company performed outstanding service for our country, and I am grateful for their service and for their return. I would also like to acknowledge the strength exhibited by the family and friends of our deployed soldiers, who have endured quiet moments of fear and uncertainty while they present a brave front to their loved ones who are separated from them by distance and danger. I am grateful husbands and wives, parents and children, fiances, siblings, and friends are reunited to celebrate our Independence Day together. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the employers in my district who bore the burden of their employees' absence without complaint and who supported their families with material support throughout the length of the 1487th's deployment. To the 1487th, my message to you is simple and heartfelt: Thank you. Thank you for your service, your patriotism, and your professionalism. God bless you and your loved ones in your future endeavors.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to close.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) seeks to, as he says, prospectively end the practice of recycling new loans through these 9.5 percent bonds that are out there. But here is the problem: some of these nonprofits student loan lenders around the country have these bonds in place for the next 5, 10, some even 15, years. And if we were to end the practice of recycling new loans through there, we would put those nonprofit lenders literally out of business because those bonds were sold to the public under this 9.5 percent scheme. Now, I am as disgusted by this scheme as the gentleman from Maryland is, I can tell you; and why this practice went on for as long as it has is really very troubling to me. But having said that, for nonprofit lenders who had gone out and secured bonds with the backing of these 9.5 percent interest rate loans, I think that with the adoption of this amendment we could cause great problems with many of the lenders that are all across the country that help fund student loans for many needy students. So I would ask my colleagues to oppose this amendment. This is a very dangerous step that could affect the ability of millions of American students to get a student loan to allow them to go to a post-secondary institution. And, secondly, the committee is in fact going to deal with this. The gentleman from Maryland is well aware that the committee is going to deal with this as we reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Again, I would urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, last year Congress took action to shut down these excess subsidies that are paid to lenders through the 9.5 percent floor loans. That led to the Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act, which was crafted to immediately halt the practice while ensuring that this issue would ultimately and permanently be addressed in the Higher Education Reauthorization Act. Now that bill, the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, is to be before the Committee on Education and the Workforce immediately upon the return of Congress from the July 4 district work period. And we do expect that we will look at this in a comprehensive way. And while I share some of the concerns of my colleague from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen), we have got to be very careful as to how we proceed in this area. There are a lot of nonprofit lenders across the country who were the recipients of these 9.5 percent loans; and if we were to adopt the gentleman's amendment, we could cause many of these nonprofit students lenders to be put out of business. And I think the gentleman realizes that we have been going through a very methodical process of trying to make some determination about how to shut these loans down permanently and how to deal with the issue of recycling. I wish it was as clean and easy as saying, we are just not going to do it any more. But as I have looked at this and I think others have looked at it, it is just not that easy. But as the committee deals with the Higher Education Reauthorization next month in both the subcommittee and full subcommittee, there is no question that this issue will be dealt with in its entirety. With that, I would ask my colleagues to oppose the gentleman's amendment. I would really like to ask him to withdraw the amendment and allow the regular process, the regular order, to occur in the committee. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I agree with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Keller) that the Pell grant program plays an essential role in helping disadvantaged students pursue a college education. And for more than 30 years, the Pell grant program has served as the foundation of Federal need-based student aid. I further applaud my colleague and a member of our committee from Florida (Mr. Keller) for his strong leadership in supporting the Pell grant program, and as Chairman of the Pell Grant Caucus, and for his sharing with us his personal experiences as a former Pell grant recipient. The gentleman is correct to point out that the Republican Congress has provided unprecedented support for Pell grants. Funding for Pell grants doubled in the last 10 years, and today we are proposing to add more than $1 billion in additional funding. The number of students receiving Pell grants has risen significantly, and today about 5.3 million students are attending college with the help of a Pell grant. So I want to thank my colleague from Ohio (Mr. Regula), the dean of our delegation, for his leadership as chairman of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee. He has been a strong advocate on behalf of education programs, and it has been a privilege to work with him in support of our priorities. Given the constraints that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) is working with, I fully understand. I agree with my colleague from Florida (Mr. Keller) that we should do all we can to increase the maximum award.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman from California's (Mr. Honda) amendment. The gentleman talks about two distinct and particular points in his amendment. First, schools routinely share students' information with various vendors. And whether they sell that information or share it, there are a lot of different forums. And during the consideration of No Child Left Behind, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and I worked closely to try to protect students' privacy. And what we developed at the end of the bill was an opportunity for parents to have their children's names opted out of the information that would be sold or shared with outside vendors, thereby giving parents the right to protect their children's privacy. But a second point, a more important point, is that some schools were sharing this information with private vendors, but would not share it with the U.S. military. And the agreement that we came to on the floor of this House in a very broad bipartisan way was that to the extent that a school sells or shares student data, they must treat military recruiters in a nondiscriminatory way, or, in other words, treat all people who would want access to this data to have access to it in the same way. Now, if schools do not want to share the data with military recruiters, that is fine. They cannot share the data then with anyone. But to the extent that they want to sell that data to publishers and others who would seek that, they must give the military the right to that information as well. I think students across America ought to have access to information to the United States military. It has been a wonderful career for tens of millions of Americans, and the fact is that the practice is going on in far too many schools discriminates against the needs of our military. So I would ask my colleagues to reject the gentleman's amendment. We have dealt with this issue in a comprehensive way in No Child Left Behind, and we did it in a broad bipartisan way.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my deepest respects and congratulations to Mr. Marinus Albert Bosma, his parents Mr. Albert Bosma and Mrs. Helena Bosma-V.D. Pol, and his sister Mrs. Alberta Bosma-Iseli. Mr. Bosma and his family will be receiving the Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations Award on June 29, 2005. The Yad Vashem Award is the Jewish people's memorial to the six million victims of the Holocaust. Its name derives from the Book of Isaiah, ``And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a ``yad vashem'') . . . that shall not be cut off (56:5).'' In 1963, Yad Vashem embarked upon a worldwide project to grant the title of Righteous Among the Nations to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Mr. Bosma and his family are natives of Arnhem in the Netherlands. During World War II, the Bosma family helped find shelter for thirty Jews and housed twelve Jews within their own home. Between the ages of twelve and nineteen, Mr. Bosma showed great valor through his assistance in the Dutch resistance. Yad Vashem honors both the heroism and tragedy of the Holocaust for those generations where World War II is a distant history lesson. It gives a memorial and a name to the millions of men, women, and children who lost their lives for their religion and culture. Yad Vashem provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women who represent the best of the human spirit; living by principles and convictions, acting heroically in the face of adversity, and finding value in all human life. Marinus, I offer you and your family my respect for your actions during World War II. Congratulations on receiving this prestigious award.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to thank Mr. Hyde for his distinguished service in the House of Representatives and to support his work to bring accountability and transparency to the United Nations. Throughout his career, Mr. Hyde has been a promoter and a defender of conservative issues, including the rights of the unborn and the need for a strong national defense. While many of my colleagues are committed and dedicated to these issues, my friend from Illinois has truly led by example in how he has advocated for conservative policies and championed family values. He is well known for his consistency and tenacity in his beliefs, yet he is well-respected within the House by Members of both sides of the aisle. He has strongly disagreed with Members about issues that evoke emotional responses, yet he has maintained his dignity and gentlemanly conduct. Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank Mr. Hyde for his work to increase the credibility of the United Nations and to wish him well in his retirement. Unfortunately, I was committed to attend an event in my district, and I was unable to vote for the final passage of the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act of 2005. I would like the official record to reflect I support this important legislation. Henry, thank you for your service and best wishes to you and your family.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Lieutenant General Richard V. Reynolds. Lieutenant General Reynolds is retiring as the Vice Commander of Air Force Materiel Command after thirty-three years of faithful and distinguished service to our country. In addition to being an effective Air Force officer, Lieutenant General Reynolds has been a positive contributor to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base community for the past eleven years. I met Lieutenant General Reynolds when I began to serve areas surrounding the base after the re-districting of 2002. I have always appreciated his candor, professionalism, and accessibility. In addition, I appreciated his willingness to educate my staff about both the Air Force and Wright Patterson at our 2003 staff retreat. I am also greatly impressed by Lieutenant General Reynolds' dedication to our country and his commitment to advancing the competitive edge of the United States Air Force. He has a distinguished service record and has worked with some of the best aircraft and service technologies in our military. His service to both the Air Force and our country will be greatly missed. To you Dick, I thank you for your service to our country, and I wish you and your family best wishes in your future endeavors. Congratulations for a successful and dedicated career.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Army Private First Class Marlin T. Rockhold. As our country honors our military personnel, both past and present, this Memorial Day, I want to take this opportunity to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and security. Private First Class Rockhold leaves behind the most important legacy any man can leave: a strong and healthy family who knows he loved them with all his heart. His love and commitment to his wife Davonna, and his desire to adopt and nurture their daughter Therashia is the best testament to his character and to his heart. Private First Class Rockhold's joy for life and his commitment to the men and women he served with are remembered by his family, his friends, and his fellow soldiers. He used his incredible sense of humor and memorable smile to ease the worries, fears, and disappointments of those around him. His positive attitude will remain in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I pay my last respects to a young man who was so full of life; to a young man who had a full and bright future ahead of him. I pray Army Private First Class Rockhold's family and friends find peace in their hearts, knowing his country is grateful and humbled by his sacrifice. I thank our brave men and women in uniform for continuing with our mission in Iraq, which is the ultimate tribute to our fallen soldiers, Marines, sailors, and airmen. Marlin, to you I offer my sincere gratitude and my solemn commitment to continue to support your friends, the members of your unit, and the men and women in Iraq who are continuing without you. Thank you for seeing a vision greater than yourself and for the strength of your commitment to our country. God bless you.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Army Specialist James H. Miller IV. As our country honors our military personnel, both past and present, this Memorial Day, I want to take this opportunity to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and security. Army Specialist Miller leaves behind a legacy of honor, service, and compassion to his family and friends. He died protecting a polling location which allowed Iraqis the opportunity to decide their own future. Army Specialist Miller served as a medic with the United States Army and aspired to enter the medical profession and work with trauma patients. He is remembered for his commitment to the well-being of his fellow soldiers and for his sensitivity to the needs of others. In addition, he is remembered for his love of music, and he particularly enjoyed playing the drums and guitar. Based on his reputation for compassion and commitment to the men and women he medically treated, I have no doubt he would have been effective in the medical field. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I pay my last respects to a young man who was so full of life; to a young man who had a full and bright future ahead of him. I pray Army Specialist Miller's family and friends find peace in their hearts, knowing his country is grateful and humbled by his sacrifice. I thank our brave men and women in uniform for continuing with our mission in Iraq, which is the ultimate tribute to our fallen soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen. Jimmy, to you I offer my sincere gratitude and my solemn commitment to continue to support your friends, the members of your unit, and the men and women in Iraq who are continuing without you. Thank you for seeing a vision greater than yourself and for the strength of your commitment to our country. God bless you.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Marine Lance Corporal Dustin R. Fitzgerald. As our country honors our military personnel, both past and present, this Memorial Day, I want to take this opportunity to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and security. Lance Corporal Fitzgerald leaves behind a legacy of compassion and leadership. His family and friends remember him as a mentor who was truly inspirational in helping the people he loved reach their full potential. They remember his pride in being a Marine, his willingness to go beyond the call of duty to assist the members of unit, and his joy and laughter. Lance Corporal Fitzgerald had aspirations to be a lawyer, and his interest and enthusiasm are a source of inspiration to the lives he touched. Based on his reputation for being hard-working and committed to fulfilling his responsibilities, I have no doubt he would have been an effective lawyer. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I pay my last respects to a young man who was so full of life; to a young man who had a full and bright future ahead of him. I pray Lance Corporal Fitzgerald's family and friends find peace in their hearts, knowing his country is grateful and humbled by his sacrifice. I thank our brave men and women in uniform for continuing with our mission in Iraq, which is the ultimate tribute to our fallen soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen. Dustin, to you I offer my sincere gratitude and my solemn commitment to continue to support your friends, the members of your unit, and the men and women in Iraq who are continuing without you. Thank you for seeing a vision greater than yourself and for the strength of your commitment to our country. God bless you.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Army Sergeant Charles J. Webb. As our country honors our military personnel, both past and present, this Memorial Day, I want to take this opportunity to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and security. Sergeant Webb leaves behind the most important legacy any man can leave: a strong and healthy family who knows he loved them with all his heart. His love and commitment to his wife Stephanie is the best testament to his character and to his heart. Sergeant Webb had aspirations to be a high school History Teacher. He is remembered as a loyal and committed soldier, and I have no doubt he would have extended his sense of duty and commitment to the teaching profession and would have been an effective and motivating teacher. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I pay my last respects to a young man who was so full of life; to a young man who had a full and bright future ahead of him. I pray Army Sergeant Webb's family and friends find peace in their hearts, knowing his country is grateful and humbled by his sacrifice. I thank our brave men and women in uniform for continuing with our mission in Iraq, which is the ultimate tribute to our fallen soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen. Charles, to you I offer my sincere gratitude and my solemn commitment to continue to support your friends, the members of your unit, and the men and women in Iraq who are continuing without you. Thank you for seeing a vision greater than yourself and for the strength of your commitment to our country. God bless you.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Marine Lance Corporal Taylor B. Prazynski. As our country honors our military personnel, both past and present, this Memorial Day, I want to take this opportunity to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and security. Lance Corporal Prazynski leaves behind a legacy of honor, service, and inspiration to his family, to his friends, and to men and women who never had a chance to know him. His family and friends remember him as a jovial and compassionate man who was committed to bringing freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people and security to the American people. Lance Corporal Prazynski also leaves behind a legacy of compassion from his work with his handicapped classmates while attending Fairfield High School. His interest in becoming a special education teacher illustrates his strength of character, and based on his reputation for being hard-working and dedicated to accomplishing his goals, I have no doubt he would have been an effective teacher and mentor. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I pay my last respects to a young man who was so full of life; to a young man who had a full and bright future ahead of him. I pray Lance Corporal Prazynski's family and friends find peace in their hearts, knowing his country is grateful and humbled by his sacrifice. I thank our brave men and women in uniform for continuing with our mission in Iraq, which is the ultimate tribute to our fallen soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen. Taylor, to you I offer my sincere gratitude and my solemn commitment to continue to support your friends, the members of your unit, and the men and women in Iraq who are continuing without you. Thank you for seeing a vision greater than yourself and for the strength of your commitment to our country. God bless you.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Friedreich's Ataxia Awareness Day, which is recognized each year on the third Saturday in May. Friedreich's ataxia is a life-shortening neurological disorder usually diagnosed in childhood, causing weakness and loss of coordination in the arms and legs; impairment of vision, hearing and speech; scoliosis, diabetes; and a life-threatening heart condition. Most patients need a wheelchair full-time by their twenties. Life expectancy is reduced to early adulthood. There is currently no effective treatment or cure for Friedreich's ataxia. Sadly, I have a young constituent who suffers from this rare disease, Evan Luebbe. Evan and his family are working to bring awareness to this disease in my district. I am proud of the strength and courage he exemplifies as he battles this disease. Although there is no effective treatment or cure available, Friedreich's ataxia patients and families have more and more reason for real hope. An extraordinary explosion of research insights has followed the identification of the Friedreich's ataxia gene in 1996. Since that discovery, research scientists have learned a great deal about the disorder. We now know what defects in the gene cause the disease, what protein the gene is supposed to produce, what that protein is supposed to accomplish, and why a shortage of the protein results in the cell death that leads to the disease symptoms. Investigators are increasingly optimistic that they are drawing closer to understanding more fully the causes of Friedreich's ataxia and to developing effective treatments. In fact, they have recently declared that, ``in Friedreich's ataxia, we have entered the treatment era.'' At the National Institutes of Health and around the world, clinical trials for Friedreich's ataxia are being conducted on drugs that hold real promise. The growing cooperation among organizations supporting the research, and the multidisciplinary efforts of thousands of scientists and health care professionals, provide powerful evidence of the determination to conquer Friedreich's ataxia. On the third Saturday of May, events will be held across our country, including one in West Chester, Ohio, to increase public awareness of Friedreich's ataxia and to raise funds to support the research that promises treatments for this disease. I applaud the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) for its contributions to these efforts and ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing May 21, 2005, as Friedreich's Ataxia Awareness Day to show our concern for all those families affected by this disorder and to express our support and encouragement for their efforts to achieve treatments and a cure.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act. The bill has received strong support from educators, school administrators, principals, and vocational and technical education advocates around the country. In this bill, we are protecting the role of States and local communities, and we are asking for results in exchange for the money we are already spending at the Federal level. The gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) wrote a good bill and deserves great credit for his commitment to this issue. He produced a bill that has received bipartisan support in the committee while still fulfilling our principles for reform. I would also like to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) for their hard work and cooperation in bringing this bill forward today. This bill will improve vocational and technical education by focusing on academics without expanding the Federal role in education. We streamline bureaucracy and give more money to local communities. H.R. 366 reduces the share of funds going to State administrative activities and targets more funding to the local level. We also streamline funding by consolidating the Tech-Prep program with a basic State grant. The bill also focuses on success at the local level. Under the bill, local communities will establish achievement targets; and to reward increased academic achievement, States and local communities can receive incentive grants for success. Above all, we maintain local control. The bill continues to move away from the so-called ``School to Work'' model of the past and maintains our commitment to ensuring that States and local communities have the final say when it comes to the educational choices for their students. Mr. Chairman, I strongly support this legislation, which will help States and local communities strengthen and improve vocational and technical education and help ensure academic success for students. I urge my colleagues today to join me in voting ``yes'' on the bill. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart).

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), the author of the bill and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Education Reform.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), a member of the committee and an educator and someone who knows more about this probably than most Members of Congress.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Utah for his kind words, and Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule which will allow for debate on an important piece of legislation, the Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act. The Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act is a bipartisan bill that helps States and local communities improve educational opportunities for their students. This bill was crafted in cooperation with Members on both sides of the aisle, and with the support of numerous vocational and technical education leaders. I am going to applaud the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) for producing this bill in a bipartisan manner and with the support of educators around the country. This bill fulfills our principles for reform by focusing on academic achievement for students and by preserving local control for States and communities. H.R. 366 will improve vocational and technical education by focusing on academics without expanding the Federal role in education. We streamline bureaucracy and give more money to local communities. We also streamline funding by consolidating the Tech-Prep program with the basic State grant. Like other important education reform efforts, including No Child Left Behind and the Individuals With Disabilities and Education Act, the bill ensures equitable treatment for private school students. We ensure students and families are not denied access to programs because they choose to attend a private school. Above all else, the bill recognizes the importance of maintaining local control. We are continuing to move away from the so-called ``School to Work'' model of the past, and we are maintaining our commitment to ensuring States and local communities have the final say when it comes to educational choices for their students. The bill was approved by the Committee on Education and the Workforce by a voice vote. I look forward to similar bipartisan support for this legislation today. Vocational and technical education is a vital component of our Nation's educational system. State and local communities use Perkins funding to help prepare youth and adults for the future. Each year, millions of students enrich their secondary and post- secondary educational opportunities through participation in vocational and technical education. In fact, nearly all students, 96 percent, leave public high school having taken some vocational education courses. Further, nearly half of all high school students and about one-third of college students are involved in vocational programs as a major part of their studies. Perhaps as many as 40 million adults, one in four, engage in short-term, post-secondary occupational training. The bill before us will build on the framework of the Perkins program by protecting the role of States and local communities, and asking for results in exchange for the money that we are already spending at the Federal level. Mr. Speaker, I support the rule. I support the underlying bill. I believe that H.R. 366 will help States and local communities to strengthen opportunities for their students and improve vocational and technical education programs. I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule and ``yes'' on passage of this important piece of legislation.