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   (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

   Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, 25 years ago, Congress passed the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Twenty-five years ago, Congress made a commitment to disabled students all over America, promising them we would do our part to make sure they got as good an education as other kids.

   Twenty-five years ago, Congress made a promise to contribute 40 percent of the cost of educating disabled children, but it was an empty promise.

   For 19 years, the Democrats controlled the House and never once did they even come close to keeping that funding promise. Twenty years of consecutive Democratic Congresses never even funded 5 percent.

   Special education has for years been yet another unfunded mandate created only to make those who wrote the law look good and placing an enormous financial burden on local schools.

   Since coming into the majority, the Republican House has more than doubled Congress' commitment to disabled kids.

   Today, we will be voting on the IDEA Full Funding Act of 2000. I urge my Democratic colleagues to join the Republicans in making good on our commitment to disabled children.

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