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There is a title already in the Elementary and Secondary Assistance Act, I think it is Title XII, it is sometimes stated as Title XI. Title XI or XII, I forget which it is, but it is called the Education Infrastructure Act. It is already in the law. It is already in the law. Carol Moseley-Braun, the Senator from Illinois, and myself, we put it in the law in the last reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Assistance Act. It is in the law. The Senate

[Page: H1154]  GPO's PDF

   Mr. Speaker, I am not going to leave it as it is. I intend to amend the title in order to provide for a $20 billion authorization, at a minimum. Mr. Speaker, $20 billion will be less than we are proposing to spend for defense; it will be far less than we authorized last year for highways and transportation. Most of the Members of Congress voted for a bill which provided $218 billion for highways and transportation; $218 billion, because they felt it was needed. There was a general feeling out in the public that it was needed. The public had not said that transportation was a high priority. The public had not said that highways were a priority, but they had no objection.

   When we voted on that kind of bill, $218 billion of over I think a 6-year period, there were no objections by the editorial boards, there were no demonstrations, there were no letters; everybody accepted it, that this is a need. Always, we need highways and sidewalks and in New York we need help for our subway system and bus system, so that expenditure was accepted because it made sense, to expend $100 billion over a 5-year period on school construction makes sense.

   We have no problem with the general public and the voters out there who are asking us everyday to give education more help. The public must look with great disgust on debates like the one that took place today where the Members of Congress are wasting their time debating a bill which is designed to hand governors more dollars. The greed of the governors knows no end. All kinds of roadblocks are offered when we try to do realistic approaches to meeting the response of the public that they have placed upon us when they ask for more assistance for education.

   We have some people who have repeatedly said, we do not want to build more schools because Davis-Bacon will drive up the cost of the schools, and in order to get Davis-Bacon, they do not want to build schools. They are going to punish the children, because two Republicans, one named Davis and one named Bacon, authorized a law some time ago which made a lot of sense that one could not bring contractors from outside an area and lower the standard of living of the people who were workers there by bringing in cheaper labor. If we had a government job involving the Federal Government and we brought in outside labor or used local labor, either way, you are going to have to pay the prevailing wage . The prevailing wage means no more than whatever brick layers, carpenters, whatever they are being paid in that area, you pay it. It makes a lot of sense. Davis and Bacon, Republicans.

   Now they are objecting to building more schools because they do not want Davis-Bacon to be utilized because it drives up the cost. We have study after study that shows that we can build schools at basically the same cost or a lower cost when we use the Davis-Bacon contractors.

   So let me conclude by saying that I hope the public, the voters who have made it clear that they want education to be a priority will focus intensely on what is happening here in this Congress. It looks as if only the people can turn around the madness that is occurring here, the endless debates about trivialities, the endless debates about changes in the law, rerouting the money which will have minimal effect on the improvement of education, and may have a dangerous impact because it will take the money away from those who need it most.

   Mr. Speaker, we need more money for construction, and we should get it as soon as possible.

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