Frank Pallone

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, really, again, I do not think anything is more important right now in terms of our education agenda than the need to address the state of our schools, the infrastructure, the overcrowding, the issues that this bill would address. What we have stated before, and we will state again tonight, is that in this case a relatively small amount of money in terms of the overall Federal budget can really go a long way toward helping the States and the municipalities in dealing with this issue of overcrowding and crumbling schools effectively. I also think it is particularly important that the gentlewoman talked about the need to upgrade the infrastructure in terms of the electrical wiring. A lot of people do not realize that many of these schools are not equipped to deal with computers and the other high-technology needs. So even if we had the money to do that, how do we put it in if we do not have the money for basic infrastructure? That is why I think this is such an important part of the Democrats' education agenda.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, tonight I want to continue discussing the Democrats' education agenda. Last week, I was joined by a few of my Democratic colleagues on the floor to discuss the success the Democrats had in getting education tax breaks for middle and lower income families in the budget deal. We also discussed goals we were likely to pursue in the coming weeks as the budget deal has been signed into law. This evening, Mr. Speaker, I want to address specifically the issue of school construction. There clearly is a dire need to invest in the physical structure of our schools. That is a matter that every Member of this body has become very familiar with in the last several days. At this point I would like to yield such time as she might consume to the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey], who has been a leader on this issue and has introduced legislation that I believe would go very far toward solving this very pressing need.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] who, again, has been stressing and formulating a lot of the Democratic policy agenda on education.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to yield now to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Etheridge], who is, I think it is fair to say, our education specialist within the Democratic caucus.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman. I had some interesting statistics about school conditions by State, which maybe I could just use our four States as an example just to give you an idea, because we come from different States and different environs. But, for example, in my home State of New Jersey, the share of schools with at least one building in need, this would be an individual school district or municipality, the share of schools with at least one building in need of extensive repair is 19.1 percent. In Connecticut, it is 30 percent. In New York, it is 32.8 percent. In North Carolina, it is 36.1 percent. So regardless, just in our own States, those figures. Then it is even higher, if you look at the number of schools with one unsatisfactory environmental condition. This goes back to whether it is air quality, whatever it happens to be. For New Jersey, it is 46 percent. For North Carolina, it is 58 percent; Connecticut, 60 percent. The list goes on. Probably the worst example right now is the District of Columbia, where we are tonight, because a lot of us are aware of the fact that the schools are actually not open in the District of Columbia because of the fact that, I guess it was a judge that ruled, as a result of a case, that the schools were in such bad condition physically that it was unsafe to open them until they did the repairs. My understanding is that it may be at least 3 weeks before they open the District of Columbia schools, which means they may not be going to school until almost the end of September or early October. I just wanted to mention that one of our colleagues, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia [Ms. Norton], actually started a program where she is encouraging high school students in the District to come and work as interns in our office while the schools are closed so that they are not sitting around idly. I happen to have this one guy, Andre, who is in my office now, at the Duke Ellington School in Georgetown. I guess that is the school for the arts. And he has been doing a very good job and helping around the office. But it just reminds me every day, when I see him when I come in in the morning, this guy should be in school. He should not be here interning in my office. I am glad he is here, but it is not just the District of Columbia, it is throughout the country. This is just getting worse and worse all the time. I want to thank the gentlewoman.

Mr. PALLONE. I think what both my colleagues are talking about is equal opportunity. That is really what it is all about. We just want to make sure there is equal opportunity. And I wanted to mention, if I could, the way this is financed, again I am looking at the bill that was supported by the President and that our colleague, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) has introduced, and it says that the Partnership to Rebuild America's School Act would provide up to a 50 percent subsidy of interest or the present value equivalent of other financing costs to a school district. So basically a leveraging, as the gentleman said, to lower the interest costs. And of course these States and the local localities have to contribute money, and it is basically a partnership with the Federal Government. The money can be used for a number of infrastructure needs, whether it is fixing or upgrading classrooms, building new schools, addressing health and safety, problems with air quality, plumbing, heating, lighting, or electricity. I just wanted to mention because the gentleman from North Carolina pointed out about the fact of why we have this overcrowding because of what is happening with the baby boomers' children basically, and also the gentlewoman from Connecticut talked about the need with regard to the Internet and computers. The statistics we have show that 46 percent of schools lack even the electrical wiring necessary for computers in their classrooms and a mere 9 percent of classrooms are currently connected to the Internet. More than half the Nation's schools lack the needed infrastructure to access the Internet or network their computers. It is a question of the ability to buy the computers but also the infrastructure needs before you can even get them in place. The other thing is in regard to the overcrowding and the fact that we need more schools and more classrooms. I have to be honest, until I started looking into this, I had no idea about what kind of increased school population there was, particularly on the high school level where a lot of times the costs are the greatest because of all the high tech or other needs that come into play. But just to give some statistics here, it says that the school enrollment this year broke the all-time record set by baby boomers in 1971. These are the baby boomers' children. It says that demand for school facilities will continue to be high. School enrollment is projected to continue to climb over the next several years growing from 52.2 million in this school year to 54.6 million over the next 5 or 6 years. High school enrollment is increasing even faster than elementary and secondary. The crisis and the need for new classrooms is centered in the high school. It says some States in particular are projected to witness astronomical increases in high school enrollment. There is where the gentleman said about how it varies from State to State. Just to give a few states, California will experience an increase of 35 percent in high school enrollment over the next 10 years. North Carolina, the gentleman's state, will experience an increase of 27 percent in high school enrollment over the next 10 years. Rhode Island, one of the New England States, 21 percent in high school enrollment. Texas, 19 percent. Although it varies from State to State, we can see that regardless of the region, we have the phenomenon. One of the places with the biggest problem of overcrowding is right nearby here, in Virginia. Many of the cases that keep coming up are in Virginia. There is a case here with Salem High School in Virginia Beach. It was built in 1989 at a cost of $20.8 million and was designed to accommodate 2,000 students. Today only 8 years later, in 1997, the school's population stands at 2,615 students and is climbing. In just 5 years, they exceeded their enrollment projections for their new school. I am sure there are a lot of cases we could cite around the country where that is the case. Again, when we talk about this bill, it is only $5 billion. Of course we could obviously do even more than that. I am just amazed again at how our colleagues on the other side of the aisle excluded this from the budget. We talked about it quite a bit during the whole course of debate on the budget. I guess to this day we do not know exactly why they insisted on it.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleagues joining me tonight. As I said, we talked about the need for national standards last week. We talked about school construction needs tonight. There are a lot more educational priorities that we as Democrats are going to be discussing over the next few weeks.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, September 6, the world lost one of its greatest humanitarian leaders. The death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta has touched literally billions of people in every part of the world, particularly in India, where Mother Teresa began her work taking care of the poorest of the poor some 5 decades ago. Mother Teresa's death has prompted an outpouring of grief, as well as gratitude to this diminutive woman who many considered a saint on Earth. India's Prime Minister Gujral, visiting the modest convent chapel where Mother Teresa entered religious service, said that the world is mourning. Flags in India are flying at half-staff and a state funeral is planned for Saturday, the highest honor the Indian Government can give. The funeral offers an opportunity for everyone, from powerful world leaders to the humblest people of Calcutta, to join in paying tribute to a woman who tirelessly ministered to the world's most afflicted citizens. Mr. Speaker, as we mourn the passing of Mother Teresa, I am sure that all of us in this body extend our best wishes to her successor, Sister Nirmala, as she works to continue the work begun by this remarkable woman who saw God in the face of every human being.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, Democrats want to raise education standards across the country so that students in every State can master the basics of reading and math; and testing, I believe, is an important part of that effort to achieve national standards. In my home State of New Jersey, we have seen improved academic performances as a result of more rigorous standards. Tests administered to all New Jersey students have been a significant ingredient in my State's efforts to improve student achievement. Education, I believe, and I will stress this, will always be primarily a State and local matter, but there needs to be a partnership with the Federal Government, and I believe the test national standards and Federal dollars made available to local school districts to rebuild crumbling and overcrowded schools should all be part of a national agenda to improve education. We can work together on the Federal and the State and the local level to achieve excellence in education.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to take the opportunity today to pay tribute to the Acerra brothers baseball team. Mr. Speaker, the Acerra brothers who grew up in my hometown of Long Branch are a unique phenomena in the world of baseball. The 12 brothers played club baseball for 14 years, from the late 1930's to the early 1950's. And they were inducted in June of this year into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY, 45 years after their final game. There are now seven surviving brothers, Paul, Alfred, Robert, William, Fred, Edward, and Richard, and they all attended the ceremony and obviously were very proud to do so. During that era when the baseball team was active, there were some 16 or so what they call all-brother baseball teams on file at Cooperstown, but no other all-brother team played as many years or accomplished as much as the Acerra brothers of Long Branch. They played in a circuit that included teams from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. The team stayed together even during World War II, even though six of the brothers enlisted in the service at various times. When the Acerras were being scouted by major league teams, their ages ranged from 17 to 40 years old. One brother, Alfred, continued to play catcher after having lost an eye while playing ball. Besides baseball, the brothers excelled in football, basketball, golf, softball, swimming, and bowling. Their achievements were extensively covered in newspapers and on radio and television and obviously they are very well known in my hometown of Long Branch and in the surrounding area where they and their children and their grandchildren continue to live. While compiling remarkable statistic feats on the field of play, the Acerra brothers never lost sight of the sense of family, and I cannot express that enough. These brothers were all and had a very strong sense of family. Their father, Pop, never missed a game and was active in coaching. Two of the brothers were offered professional contracts but turned them down because they did not want to leave their mother and break up the family team. There was another brother who turned down a football scholarship for the same reasons. Mr. Speaker, it is really a great honor for me to join with the Baseball Hall of Fame in paying tribute to the great accomplishments of the Acerra brothers baseball team and to extend my best wishes to the entire Acerra family and many of their friends. I am going to be with some, if not all, of them this Sunday where we are also going to be paying tribute at an event in Long Branch to them and I am just very proud of them and all that they have accomplished. They certainly bring a great sense of pride to my hometown of Long Branch, NJ.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, August 23, one of the races at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ, was dedicated to Mr. Phil Hollywood, a native of my hometown of Long Branch, NJ, who has distinguished himself as a business leader in our Nation's Capital. It is an honor for me to join in paying tribute to this good friend and great citizen. Phil Holywood was born in Long Branch, attended grade school at the Lyceum, and served as an altar boy at Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church. While attending Red Bank Catholic High School, he worked as a stockboy at the local Woolworth's and as a part-time caddie at the Old Orchard Country Club in Eatontown, NJ. After high school, he enlisted in the Navy, serving on a destroyer in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war, he took a job as a desk clerk at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, a venerable Washington landmark. He stayed there for 47 years, rising to the position of vice president and managing director, while also serving in various capacities for the Hotel Association of Washington. During this storied and distinguished career, he had the honor of greeting many Presidents of the United States as well as many foreign leaders. Mr. Hollywood was Inaugural housing director for three Presidential Inaugurations. While he was always extremely attentive to the needs of the eminent visitors to the Shoreham, Phil Hollywood extended special care to guests from Monmouth County and especially Long Branch. Phil retired in 1991, and he resides in Washington with his wife Brinda. Their two daughters and three grandchildren all live nearby. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor for me to join with the many friends of Phil Hollywood in paying tribute to the many accomplishments of this Long Branch boy who made for himself a great career in Washington but never forgot his native roots.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. I yield now to the gentleman from North Carolina who, again, is one of the best spokesmen on the issue of education within our Democratic Party.

Mr. PALLONE. Our main purpose, of course, is to continue to point out that as Democrats we want to make education a top priority and we think we have done a lot as you mentioned with the Balanced Budget Act, but a lot more needs to be done.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's comments, and believe me, my purpose tonight was to get everyone to participate, and use as much time as they like. I guess there is not a lot of time left, but I just wanted to say, the gentleman mentioned particularly at the end about the use of resources. We all know we have scarce resources around here. We just passed the Balanced Budget Act. I think our whole purpose is to use those scarce resources on the Federal level as wisely as possible. This idea of having or raising education standards around the country really is a way of using very little resources to achieve a great effect. I know that in New Jersey, I was given today a document from the New Jersey Department of Education, very recent, that is the annual report of Goals 2000, Educate America. It shows basically how New Jersey, I think New Jersey in the last fiscal year, received about $8 billion for Goals 2000. What they essentially used it for, or a lot of it, was to put together this strategic plan on a State level to achieve higher standards. It was very interesting to see, this is a long document, but to see how they put together curriculum content standards, they developed a partnership with private organizations, in other words, some of the universities, some of the corporations, to do joint programs within the schools. The list goes on and on. I was just amazed to see, $8 million sounds like a lot, but on the State level it really is not very much, how they were able to use that $8 million and basically leverage it to really do a lot toward achieving higher standards within the New Jersey schools. Of course, we have, as the gentleman mentioned in Texas, we have these standardized tests we give in New Jersey, and they have shown that the proficiency has actually improved in the last few years, so it is very possible, really, to leverage some of these Federal dollars in a way that really makes a difference. I think the same thing is true with the infrastructure of schools, as well, because oftentimes, as the gentleman knows, the local school districts, if they can get some money to, say, underwrite the bonds, oftentimes they will use bonding to build a new school or replace a school. If they can get funding to underwrite the bonds, they are able to do things. So even though $5 billion does not sound like a lot nationwide over a period of years for crumbling schools, it can be used to leverage, and it can be leveraged also to make a big difference. So those Federal dollars can mean something, even though they may not seem like a lot. I know the gentleman mentioned about the wise use of funds, and that is what we have to look at here over the next few months.

Mr. PALLONE. I appreciate the gentleman's comments. I yield to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Green].

Mr. PALLONE. I want to thank the gentleman, because I think that you really bring forth the practical problems that we face. You have been in the trenches in your home State, and you understand what needs to be done. One of the reasons that we are here tonight is because we really believe that we need to move to the next phase on education issues. We have done the budget, we are done with the tax breaks, and a lot of the impact of the budget affects, I would say, college and university training. But we need also to address secondary schools. We need to go from preschool right up to graduation from high school. One of the things that you kept stressing is that if you look at this practically, you understand that there has to be a Federal role as well. There is a Federal role, there is a State role, and there is a local role. The two things that the Democrats have been talking the most about in the last couple of days since we got back here, one is the issue of raising education standards across the country, because Democrats really would like to see education standards so that students from Maine to Alaska can master the basics of reading and math. That is what they need, those skills, to succeed. The other thing you mentioned, which I think we have also been stressing as Democrats, is the need to rebuild crumbling and overcrowded schools. As you remember, during the budget debate, we actually proposed an initiative, I think a $5 billion initiative, to help localities rebuild schools and to address overcrowding. That was something that the Republicans, unfortunately, did oppose, and so it did not get into the final budget bill. But I think that is an issue also that is across the board, not only in urban and rural areas, but suburban areas. It is interesting, because suburban areas probably face more overcrowding than any other localities because so many new students have gone into those suburban areas, and they do not have the facilities for them.

Mr. PALLONE. I want to thank the gentleman from Arkansas, and it is really particularly interesting to note how President Clinton, when he was the Governor, actually implemented a lot of these ideas that now are forming a part of his education initiative on the Federal level as President.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, tonight I wanted to take our Democratic time to discuss the Democrats' education agenda. I have a number of my colleagues who are here to join me. We basically want to talk about what we have accomplished to date in this Congress and what we likely will focus on in the wake of these accomplishments. First, I think most of my colleagues are aware that in July congressional leaders and the White House reached a historic budget agreement that will balance the Federal budget by 2002. Included in this agreement were a host of tax breaks designed to help the average working American family meet the runaway costs of education in this country. The inclusions of these tax breaks, Mr. Speaker, I believe was a great victory for both the American people, but also for the Democratic Party because the education tax breaks have long been at the center of the Democratic education agenda, and I think it is important to remember as we move toward the next phase of this agenda that Republicans only agreed to the education provisions of the budget because the Democrats basically drew the line in the sand and said that these were the provisions that we wanted. Of course, President Clinton played a major role in that effort. The problem was that many of the education tax breaks that the Republicans had initially proposed benefited more wealthy Americans than they would have the middle or lower income individual. I just wanted to give an example of that. In June, the U.S. Student Association, which has been around for about 50 years, wrote that students around the country are registering their disappointment with Republican Chairman Archer's plan for education tax initiatives because that package, the Republican package, would do nothing to expand access to education. They were concerned about the fact that the Republicans were not looking at the President's education tax proposals and that the Republican plan shifted benefits away from middle-income families and basically funneled aid to those with greater resources. But I do not want to keep prolonging this debate. Essentially the Democrats won and we are happy with the result. One of the most important tax benefits included by the Democrats was the HOPE scholarship, something again that President Clinton pushed for. As a result, students will be eligible for 1,500 dollars' worth of tax credits to help pay for the first 2 years of postsecondary education. But the HOPE scholarship, even though it received a lot of acclaim, was by no means the only initiative that was included as a result of Democratic efforts. Also included is a tax credit covering 20 percent of tuition costs, up to $5,000 ceiling through the year 2002 and after 2002 the ceiling rises to $10,000 for the third and fourth year of college. Under this plan, to basically state it in more human terms, in 2003 a student in a college with a tuition of $12,000 would receive a $2,000 tax credit. Another important provision included in the budget agreement, again as a result of Democratic efforts, was a large increase in funding for the Pell grant, for that program which many students rely on. As a result of the Democrats, the fiscal year 1998 education appropriation bill provides a $1.5 billion increase in the Pell grant program. That is an increase of about 26 percent. And there are a lot of other programs, I am not going to get into them all, but there are other things that are in the budget that the Democrats pushed for, like the Education Technology Challenge Fund, the America Reads Initiative. Again, these were top priorities of the Democrat's ``Family First'' agenda and also highly recommended by the President. I am not mentioning these Democratic success stories on education just to, as my colleagues know, crow about it, but also to say not only that we are happy about what we accomplished, but that we think a lot more needs to be done; I mean, the fight is far from over. One area where Democrats will be focusing their attention in the weeks to come is the implementation of rigorous academic standards. Indeed, we will be seeking to continue to expand upon the progress made in this area through the Goals 2000 program, a program that I should point out has long been a target of the Republican Party. I do not know why Goals 2000 is often targeted for extinction by the Republican leadership, because actually, if you look at it, it was first developed under President Bush. He actually suggested national goals for education, and it was approved by both Houses of Congress under his administration. But President Clinton really has done the most to try to move Goals 2000 forward, and he signed a bill that basically tries to move Goals 2000 to the next step, provide significant resources for it, but I also have to stress because I know that the Republicans on the other side, even this morning here in the well, started to talk about the fact that the Democrats with their national standards were ignoring the State and local responsibility for education, and I would say just the opposite is true. The President, when he signed Goals 2000 in 1994, specifically stressed that education is primarily a State and local responsibility. Democrats understand that, but at the same time we believe that there is a Federal role and that Federal dollars can be used and the Federal Government can basically help State and local governments to implement tougher standards that will lead to better academic achievement. Essentially what we are trying to do with the Federal Government is to challenge the States and the local governments to do better, and I think that that is a goal that certainly makes sense for the Federal Government. Just wanted to say, and I am going to yield to my colleagues who are here to join me tonight, that in my home State of New Jersey we have seen improved academic performance as a result of more rigorous standards. Just to give my colleagues an example, results from the October 1995 and April 1996 administrations of a high school proficiency test that we had in New Jersey for 11th and 12th graders revealed improvements in student achievements in reading, writing, and mathematics. You can have more rigorous standards, it does work, and the partnership with the Federal Government, the State and local governments, I think, is the way to go. And I would like to now yield to the gentleman from Arkansas who has joined me before in talking about some of these education goals that the Democrats have put forward.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, I do not intend to take up a lot of time. I just have been listening. I know there have only been one or two speakers in favor of this amendment. Unfortunately, they have made some really incorrect remarks. The remarks about the caste system, you could look back 2,000 years and know that the caste system has existed in India. But the fact of the matter is that for the last 50 years this democracy has tried to root out the caste system. They have made it illegal under their constitution. They have repeatedly tried to go out of their way to establish affirmative action programs so that those of the so-called lower castes are able to play a significant role in Indian society, the point being the President, the chief of state of India. In addition, I have heard comments about people being killed recently in a lot of different instances. A lot of that is happening because of terrorists, militant terrorist organizations that continue to operate in India. The bottom line is, if we were to pass this amendment today, which I know we will not, but if we were, we would encourage those terrorists to continue their activities against innocent people in India. It is those militant organizations that are inflicting a lot of the crimes and a lot of the deaths that are talked about by the gentleman from Indiana. In addition to that, the gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher] talked about how there has been no indication that the situation is getting better in India in terms of human rights. Just, in fact, the opposite is the truth. Our State Department annually for the last few years has talked repeatedly about progress. There has been incredible progress. The human rights commission puts out a report on a regular basis, I brought one of the copies today, where they are prosecuting 200 people annually, more people every day. They have these training programs where they deal with the military forces and they explain to them how they are properly supposed to act. They have been dealing with the situations in rape, with rapes. They have been going against child prostitution. The very things that the two supporters of this amendment talk about are actually being rooted out by the human rights commission on a regular basis. The Government has been spending money trying to do that. The problem that we have here with the supporters of this amendment is that they do not look at the facts on the ground in India. They are not talking to the people. They do not understand what is going on. They continue to talk about things that have happened in the past. I have to say, finally, when you talk about Kashmir and again about the Punjab, in both cases there have been democratic elections in those two states of India. So it is wrong to say that there is no plebiscite. It is wrong to say that there is no democratic process. People have voted, the majority of the people. More people than voted in our elections here in the United States have voted for the governments are against separatism in those states in India.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, I object.

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to point out when we talk about the caste system, that the caste system is illegal under the Indian Constitution. Twenty-five percent of the members of India's Parliament are so-called untouchables. The President of India, which is the Chief of State, is from the so-called untouchable class, and untouchables are constitutionally protected. Anyone can be prosecuted, and people are prosecuted, if they discriminate against those people of the so-called untouchable caste.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, students all over the country are going back to school this week. During the budget debate this summer, Democrats in Congress pushed an education agenda over the opposition of Republicans that provided significant help to college students to help finance their education. This included expanded Pell grants, education tax credits and deductions, including the $1,500 HOPE scholarship. During this fall, Democrats will focus on raising education standards across the country and on the need to rebuild crumbling and overcrowded schools. Republicans have already vowed to fight the President's plan to raise education standards, but Democrats understand that the Federal Government can help students master the basics of reading and math. Raising education standards should be a national goal.

Mr. PALLONE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, is it my understanding there are two amendments or one?

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, when the gentleman says ``on our side,'' I understand there are several Republican Members who want to speak against the amendment. If that 20 minutes is limited to everyone who wants to speak against the amendment, we probably do not have enough time, unless I am missing something.