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

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s senior Republican member, issued the following statement today in response to Democrats’ latest proposal to drive up federal deficits and delay emergency troop funding by attaching billions in education spending to a supplemental war spending bill: 

“Democrats have shown their true priorities, jumping at the chance to discard education reform to salvage an unpopular bailout for the education establishment. This latest proposal is filled with budgetary gimmicks and false choices designed to mask the same old flawed and failed policies – pushing the education funding cliff further into the future with a state bailout modeled on the broken promises of government stimulus. 

“Our troops fighting on the front lines need resources immediately, yet Democrats continue to hold critical funding hostage to special interest demands. The proposal released late last night cuts education reform programs and the Pentagon’s own budget while spreading other savings over an entire decade to provide a mere fig leaf of fiscal responsibility for another unaffordable short-term spending binge. This proposal is insulting to our troops and unfair to students, teachers, and taxpayers.” 

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