House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Republican, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), today issued the following statement after the delivery of President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget to Congress:

“Because of a strong economy, a growing commitment to fiscal restraint, and surging revenues, we’ve been on a path to a balanced budget for the last several years.  The President’s new budget is a further indication that we can and will get there while supporting education and workforce priorities – without raising taxes. 

“While I applaud the President’s continued commitment to education funding that keeps up with our reform efforts, we should not lose sight of the fact that congressional Democrats, many of whom insinuate that funding alone is the silver bullet to our challenges in education, could not be more off-base.  If increasing education funding, year after year, was the sole solution to closing the achievement gap and expanding access to college, we’d have realized that by now.  Under No Child Left Behind, we’ve seen aid to disadvantaged schools rise at a record rate in a short amount of time.  And on higher education, the federal commitment to student aid now tops $90 billion annually – another record.  Holding schools, colleges, and universities accountable for their role in spending federal dollars and producing results is even more important than budgeting for the funding increases in the first place. 

“On K-12 education, working with Republicans in Congress, we’ve seen Title I aid for local schools increase at historic levels, and the President’s budget proposal builds on that momentum by providing for nearly a 60 percent increase during the No Child Left Behind era.  I’m also pleased that the President continues his support for merit pay programs to bolster teacher quality and improved parental choice.  In spite of continued resistance to these reforms among the education establishment, it becomes clearer each year that they are critical to closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their more fortunate peers.  

“On higher education, record funding for Pell Grants and academic competitiveness grants for high-achieving Pell students is an important step toward expanding access to college.  But it is just that: a step.  Congressional Republicans have worked for years – often against stiff resistance from the higher education establishment – to hold institutions themselves more accountable for their role in the college cost crisis.  Until we make a concerted, bipartisan effort to do so, experience has shown us that costs will continue to rise, even more quickly than we can increase funding out of Washington.” 

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