Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution and want to thank the gentleman from Georgia, congratulating Kennesaw State University for winning the NCAA Division II men's basketball national championship. Two months ago, the Owls captured this title, culminating in a very impressive season. Kennesaw State won their last 26 games. Unbelievable. College fans and student athletes and the citizens of the State of Georgia were treated to a very exciting basketball season. I just want to extend my congratulations from the great State of Ohio. It is obvious that the gentleman from Georgia has great passion about the influence that student athletes can have on the future of our society and on the future of the State of Georgia, and I want to rise in support.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The great investment of the GI Bill, which sprang our economy into the world domination we now have. I look at my grandparents' generation, who many accessed the GI Bill, doctors, lawyers and engineers. The space program, it was not just about going to the Moon; it was about getting mathematicians and scientists and engineers and physicists. They were not all going to work for NASA, but they went out into the private sector and drove this economy forward throughout the '50s, '60s, and '70s when we had a lot of success. We need to make those investments again.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, I want to thank the gentleman, because the 30-somethings are always looking for some support from the 50-somethings, without a doubt. But I think the gentleman raised a couple of very good points. The one point is, let us think about a young student today who may be just finishing up high school, or a sophomore or junior in high school, getting ready to go, or maybe a kid 10 or 12 years old. What kind of student loan burden are they going to have? If the colleges, public universities go 10 percent, 10 percent, 10 percent, 10 percent over the next 4 or 5 years, Pell grants are not adjusted for inflation, the same problems with the student loans, we tack on more user fees and everything else, and then the debt from the tax cuts. So by the time they get through law school, if they are 15 now, by the time they are 27, 28, 30 years old, they have all of that educational burden. Then they have the burden that we are putting on them from the past 2 or 3 years here. Where is the economic machine going to move at that point when you have so much debt? We are really putting chains not only on our kids, but on the economy. That is one point I would like to make. The other point I thought of is that not only are we strapping ourselves with our debt, but we have less kids that are going to be on the border that we need to create the new economy. We do not know what the new economy is going to be. We know it is not industry. We know industry has been on the decline for the last 30 years, trade agreements we have signed and a variety of other issues, whatever they may be, technology. So what is the new economy going to be? The best thing we can do is just educate these young kids and say, you go out and create it. We do not know what it is going to be yet. So I appreciate the gentleman stopping down, and hopefully he can make it down in the next weeks and months to come.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, that is right. If the gentleman would yield further, I would say to the young students who may be watching this or may hear about this through their college newspapers, that they can check the statistics. We are not going to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives and try to lie to you. We are going to present to you statistics we have had verified, information we have had verified from members of our staffs and different organizations. Check it out. It is not us saying it. It is not a Democrat or Republican issue. Unfortunately, the Congress has been controlled by the Republicans for a good many years, the White House has been in the hands of the Republicans for now 3\1/2\ years, and the Senate has been in Republican hands for a few years now. If they wanted to address the needs of college students in the United States of America, they had the opportunity. Time and time again, we took the opportunity to engage the top 1 or 2 percent, to make sure they got hundreds of thousands of dollars back in some instances. So this is a priority issue for this Congress; and if you do not believe us, go right ahead and check our facts, just the facts.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, one issue before we get into the books, I want to talk about the GI Bill. I do not know how many stories, if this is anecdotal or what, but I have heard a lot over my lifetime about people who are in the greatest generation and they are telling the story of their life and they say, well, and then I went to medical school, or well, and then I went to become a lawyer. And I would always ask, well, why? And they said, well, I did not know what I was going to do and the GI Bill was going to pay for it, so I went. Now, how many kids are out there right now who, if we gave them that opportunity, they would say, I do not know what to do, I have a bachelor's degree in political science, I know I cannot make a very good living off that. What are you going to do? I am going to go to law school, I am going to go to medical school, I am going to go do something that is important. But I think one issue that we do want to touch on before we leave here is to talk a little bit about textbooks. And nothing, nothing in my educational career got me more hot under the collar than when I had to return a textbook that I paid, or my mother or my grandparents paid $120 for, and you bring it back at the end of the semester, and they will give you 5 bucks, 10 bucks back for it. So we have a piece of legislation here, just to shout out to all of the college students, we did not forget you. We know this is a major issue, we know this is a major problem. There are textbooks that are sold in the United States that are sold for half the price in England. So the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu), a Member of Congress here, has a bill that we are kind of jumping on that is going to ask the General Accounting Office to investigate these high prices of college textbooks and the disparity of prices between textbooks sold in the United States and overseas. There is no way a textbook sold in the United States, written in the United States, published in the United States, copyrighted in the United States should be $100, and they are sold at a bookstore in England or in London for $50. There is no reason why that should happen. So we want to do an investigation. We want to see why that is. We are also on the brink, and I think we dropped it last week, of having a piece of legislation that would give parents or students a $1,000 tax credit for the price of college books. That should cover a good portion of the books that people spend in a year.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida and the gentlewoman gentlewoman from California for bringing up these issues. I just recently moved up into the 30-Something. I was in the 29 something caucus all by myself before we started here. A couple of issues. I missed the beginning of the special order here, but I have three universities in my district. I have a local campus, branch campus of one of those universities, and I think the one issue that I faced being in the State Senate in Ohio with tuition increases going up by 10, 15 percent across the board, is that the one issue that young kids and young students could sniff out more than anything else is when someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes, when someone is trying to tell them one thing and do something else. And the last presidential election, the students, the college students, the technical students, of this country were promised by the President of the United States that he was going to raise the Pell grant award to $5,100 for all freshmen students. Now today the maximum Pell grants is still $4,050. So we try to engage young students, we try to engage young people into the process, and we try to tell them that we care about their needs. But here once again in 2000 they were told one thing by a typical politician, as they would see it and they would call it, who would promise one thing and then something else happened. They did not deliver on the promise. And, again, I heard the gentleman from Florida reiterate, as has been reiterated many times here in this Chamber, that again we have the priorities for the top 1 percent. They are the people that we care about. We garner all the energy of this Chamber to help the top 1 percent. But we cannot make one move to help college students. And as he said, I am sure in Florida it is the same way as it is in Ohio: 10 percent this year, 10 percent next year, 13 percent the next year, 15 percent the next year for college education. And these are the States that are getting hardest hit by the job loss. So they lose their job or they are underemployed; so they go from a job making 15 or 20 bucks an hour with health insurance down to 9 bucks an hour. Now they are at Sam's Club, now they are at Super-K, now they are at Kohl's or Bed, Bath & Beyond, trying to make ends meet for their family, and they have a 15 percent tuition increase to try to make ends meet for their kids. So I am glad that the leader has also organized this. This is a great opportunity, I think, for us to try to address some of the issues here in the United States Congress and let people know out there, let young students know out there on a Tuesday night at nine o'clock, as they are flipping through watching Comedy Central or MTV or VH1, that they could maybe tune in here once a week, and they do not have to do it every night, but once a week find out there are Members of the United States Congress that are trying to address some of their needs. I know we have some other speakers. I would be happy to stick around and talk a little bit.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If you are a young student sitting at home right now, watching this or hearing about these policies, what would you rather have? That is that democracy. It is that simple. What would you rather have, tax cuts? A millionaire getting $130,000 back or a program like this where you will get a credit for your textbooks; you will get ``I Have a Dream Scholarships'' for your community service; help the States to make sure that they do not cut back; tax credits; increase in the Pell grants. What do you want? If you are a student and you want certain things, then you have to get out and participate in the system.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Maybe one of these weeks we could talk about No Child Left Behind. And I do not want to get into a K through 12 debate now, but it is the same issue. In Ohio, for example, the State legislature did a study, No Child Left Behind underfunded by $1.4 billion. So now that means that the State, in order to fulfill their obligations to the Federal mandate, must come up with more money. Does that mean they will take more from the college subsidies for higher education that the State puts on? Does that mean more of an increase to the property tax of someone who is paying property tax in the State of Ohio? Where will we get this money? I guess the thing I want to communicate is that this is doable. The beautiful thing about this democracy is that it belongs to us. And if young people want to participate in this system and in an election from Republican to Democrat, then they can do it. There are enough students out there to make this happen. If you want the millionaires' tax cuts to go away or not necessarily even go away, just a portion of it going away to pay for this, that is doable. If you get active and you get involved, let us know, 30somethingdems@mail. house.gov. Let us know what your ideas are. We need young people to participate in this process and replenish this system because it has become very stagnant down here. It has become a very small group of people who raise money, dump it into this institution, get the legislation they want. That legislation helps them make more money and they take their profits and it is a cycle that goes on and on. And the only thing that combats that is democracy and young people getting involved in the process.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I support this resolution which honors the importance of school-based music education. Specifically, this resolution recognizes that music education, grounded in rigorous instruction, is an important component of a well-rounded academic curriculum, and should be available to all students. It also recognizes that school music programs play an important role in the academic and social development of children. Any music educator will tell you that the school music program enriches the academic environment of our schools, and also enhances the intellectual development of our children. Music education is very important. I am pleased to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), and more specifically, from Music City, U.S.A.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We support this resolution. We appreciate the gentleman's efforts on this. I want to make perfectly clear that we want to show our support and congratulate the public charter schools for their contributions to the system, and say what great students and kids they have, and how we want to support them and their families. This is not a resolution to abandon our traditional public schools, but to show our support for charter schools.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. The gentleman from Michigan makes a valid point. We are spending more on education, but there are more mandates that have been placed on these local schools, and the money that we have given has not equaled the amount that is needed to fulfill the obligations that the Federal Government wants to impose on the local school districts and the States. I was in the State legislature, too. I know State legislators want more Federal money; there is no doubt about that, and I apologize to the gentleman from Nevada. We are getting a little off the point here, but my point was that here we have a Republican-controlled legislature, we have a Republican State for the most part controlled by Republican- elected officials, soon to become a Democratic State in the fall, but a Republican State controlled, and my point is that the Department of Education in Ohio is not going to throw it back in the Republican Congress' face and criticize them unnecessarily so. So if anything, it was a proper analysis of the funding that was needed. Back to H. Res. 600. I do rise, Mr. Speaker, in support of H. Res. 600, a resolution congratulating public charter schools for their ongoing contribution to our educational system. The first charter school opened its doors in 1992 in Minnesota; and since that time, the number of charter schools has grown. While they only educate a small portion of all children that attend public schools, these schools have added to the importance and purpose of our public school systems. The truly great aspect of our country's educational system is its public schools. Whether it is charter schools or traditional public schools, all of our public schools exist to educate our Nation's children. America cannot succeed without a robust and successful public school system. Charter schools are one important part of this system. I do want to say that this is not a resolution of us agreeing to abandon the traditional public schools, abandon funding for the traditional public schools at both a local, State level, and at Federal level. This is not that resolution. We do want to commend all the hardworking teachers and principals and leaders in the schools and the kids who go to these schools as students who attend. They are great kids. I have had an opportunity to meet with them and speak with them. They are great kids who deserve all the respect and admiration that this body can give them. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, just one final closing point, and we do not need to beat a dead horse here, but I do believe that we cannot have an honest debate about this education program or any other education programs without looking at the money, and we need to fund these education programs. Again, we commend the teachers. We commend the principles and the people who were involved in this program. And there is no doubt about the outstanding work that they provide, the outstanding leadership that they provide for our young students who are there. We will support this resolution. But, in the current fiscal year 2004 appropriations, $61.6 million, it would take $1.1 billion to fully fund this program. When you look at that in the light of all the tax cuts that we have given to the top one, 2 percent of the people in this country, the wealthiest 1 and 2 percent of the people in this country, we just believe on this side of the aisle that it is time for us to take this responsibility seriously. We are losing jobs left and right, and we want every single child to have an opportunity to get a quality education with the new facility with the proper education in these time of great need for these children. We are supportive of this resolution. I thank the gentleman for bringing it up. It is a great idea to take time out of our busy schedules here in Congress to commend these teachers and these people who are leading the future youth of this country. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, there are several other issues here that I wanted to touch upon. One is the zeroing out of the counseling program; it was $32 million, it has been zeroed out. Children of military families struggle to deal with a lot of the issues that are brought forth during times of war, during times of conflict. President Bush has zeroed out the elementary and secondary school counseling program. The program represents one of the few counseling efforts that the Federal Government supports, and especially as children struggle with the uncertainties facing their families in deployment during a time of war. Also, another issue that must be touched upon here. I do not think we can have a debate about the military schools or the military impact program or any education program without looking at the whole picture. We cannot ignore IDEA. We cannot ignore No Child Left Behind. We cannot ignore construction for these facilities. We cannot ignore the counseling programs. Education is an integrated process, and by ignoring any of these, I do not think we fully touch upon the issues that we want to talk about here today. Military-impacted districts have, on average, dealing with IDEA, more children with disabilities than nonmilitary-impacted districts. So they are clearly going to be affected in a deeper manner than an average school, and by failing to fully fund IDEA, President Bush is exacerbating the challenges that military-impacted districts face. These districts and these taxpayers get hit twice. The government comes in, they buy the land up, they are not getting the proper amount of reimbursement from this program and, at the same time, because you have less land, you are getting an increase in your own property tax. So this hits these families in these communities that more often than not need a lot of help. And I know Windham and Southeast and Maplewood in my congressional district, they need this assistance. Ohio is a State that has lost over 200,000 jobs. We need to begin to educate our kids. No Child Left Behind has been reported by the Ohio Department of Education, a Republican-controlled general assembly, every Statewide officeholder in Ohio is a Republican, and they have said that the No Child Left Behind program is underfunded in the State of Ohio by $1.4 billion. We cannot talk about any kind of education programs without looking at the whole pack. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would also like to say to the gentleman from North Carolina, our comments today in no way take away from our ability to thank these teachers for all of their hard work. We just think that there are opportunities here that this Congress and this President could move to make this a better program, to help our children more. This is not a criticism of the teachers or principals or the teachers who are active in this program. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis).

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of H. Res. 598. Today's resolution honors the role that military impacted schools, teachers, administrators, counselors, and other staff play in educating children of military families. These individuals deserve our thanks, and they deserve our support. Hard-working teachers, principals, and superintendents across the country are doing all they can to help the 650,000 military children served in public schools. They are making a difference in the lives of the children, helping them learn, helping them succeed in school and in life. In Congress today we commend them, the parents, the teachers, the superintendents, the principals, for working on the front lines at home to educate students during times of peace and times of conflict. We should be doing all we can to support them in this important work. Yet President Bush and the Republican Congress are not providing these children and the families with the support they deserve. Why? Because they are failing to provide adequate funding for schools serving military children. These shortcomings are even more pronounced while these children's parents, our soldiers, are defending us in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. We need to be doing more, not less, for these children and their families. President Bush has shortchanged children and military families in several ways. First, passing tax cuts that leave hundreds of thousands of military children behind. While millionaires receive checks averaging $93,500 from the government, the hard-working parents of 12 million children receive nothing because Congress refused to close the loophole in the massive tax cut to the richest Americans. Even 260,000 children of active military parents were excluded from the child tax credit that the President signed. Second, flat-funding the Impact Aid program. The Impact Aid program provides funds for schools which serve heavy concentrations of children from military families. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has failed to invest adequate resources in this program. First, by proposing to cut the program last year, and then flat-funding it in the fiscal year 2005 budget submitted only 3 months ago. Also by freezing school construction funding. Under the Impact Aid program, school construction funding is reserved for the military school districts with the most pressing facility needs. In his fiscal year 2005 budget, President Bush proposed to freeze construction funding. Worse yet, the level of funding for school construction has declined considerably and is less than one-third of the level President Bush proposed when he entered office in 2001. This President has also broken the promise to fund No Child Left Behind. President Bush has underfunded No Child Left Behind by nearly $27 billion since it was enacted. Schools serving military children generally have high numbers of disadvantaged children. No Child Left Behind's funding is targeted to school districts with high concentrations of disadvantaged children. This lack of commitment to funding hits military-impacted districts especially hard. If this budget becomes law, military children across the country will be shortchanged. For instance, in my home State of Ohio, children in my district, the 17th congressional district, are being short-changed. Children in Title I schools in are eligible for $574,200 in Title I funding, but the President's budget provides only $399,000, for a shortfall of over 30 percent, nearly $175,000. Southeast school district children are eligible for $351,000 in Title I funding, but would get only $241,000 under the President's budget, for a shortfall of over 31 percent. Mr. Speaker, it is these programs and many more that are being cut by this President's budget or frozen by this President's budget. We are going to support this resolution. We are going to support our teachers, the faculty, and the parents of these children. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 408, a resolution congratulating the University of Denver for winning the NCAA hockey national championship. Just last month, the Pioneers captured the national championship after a hard fought Frozen Four. This championship culminated in an impressive season. College fans, student athletes, and the general public were treated to an exciting final game. I want to extend my hearty congratulations to Head Coach George Gwozdecky. Also to be congratulated are a number of players, Adam Berkhoel, who made 24 saves. I also want to extend my congratulations to North Dakota, who, despite their loss, showed the quality of their school and their athletic talent through great sportsmanship. Winning this championship has brought national acclaim to the University of Denver. I hope the Pioneers' fans and the university community treasure this moment for many years to come. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson).

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).