The Best We Can Do?

skywalker · 10-07-2002, 07:00 AM

(I don't know if it is okay to post this (copyright wise). I'll delete if I have to.)

This was posted at the website ( http://jeffords.senate.gov/ ) of one the fine Senators of Vermont... probably the most hated by the Republican Party...and one greatest in the USA (IMHO).

October 2, 2002

Statement of Senator Jim Jeffords, The Forgotten Agenda

Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the state of our nation. Our President has asked us to give him the authority to begin a war with Iraq, and I look forward to a full and frank debate on that question.

But today I want to discuss other issues. Important issues, that are not getting the attention they deserve. An agenda the President would rather not discuss. An agenda I fear is being obscured by gathering clouds of war.

Whether or not to go to war in Iraq is surely a grave and momentous decision, but I fear our President is neglecting other crucial matters here at home, the quiet crisis American families are facing everyday. In Vermont and across our great land families are hurting.

When they send their children to an over-crowded, under-funded school in the morning, they ask, "Is this the best we can do?" When they go to work and see an empty desk beside them they wonder, "Am I next?" and they ask, "Is this the best we can do?" When they see their dwindling retirement accounts and read endlessly of corporate corruption, they ask, is this the best we can do? When they have to cancel their child's doctors appointment because they've lost their health insurance coverage, they ask, "Is this the best we can do?" When they send their kids out to play only to realize that the air pollution levels are dangerously high, they ask, "Is this the best we can do?"

Mr. President, is this the best we can do? Of course not, we can do better, we must do better. Because American families deserve better, and they deserve better from their President. In talking about one thing only, the President is forgetting many others. And so today I call on the President to engage this nation on this forgotten agenda.

Less than a year after this Congress and the President worked to increase the federal role in elementary and secondary education by passing the "No Child Left Behind Act," we are in danger of leaving many more children behind because sufficient dollars will not be forthcoming to see that every child in this nation receives a quality education.

The lack of funding for our nation's schools is a disgrace. Across our nation, headline after headline tells the story of school districts having to cut back staff, end the school day early, and cut short the school year - all because of a lack of funding.

More than 25 years ago the federal government promised to pay 40 percent of special education costs for children with disabilities. Today we only pay 18 percent of the costs. That is not just a broken promise for one of the richest nations in the world, it is an outrage.

Remember, the very reason that the federal government has a role in education is because the Congress realized that our national defense depended on our students leading the world in math and science. One of this country's first education bills passed in the late 1950's, after the Soviets launched Sputnik. It was entitled the National Defense Education Act. An even more dramatic action occurred after World War II when we passed the GI bill, vastly increasing the federal contribution to education and narrowing the tremendous educational gap. A similar gap exists now. Similar action is needed now.

Of the major industrial nations, the United States ranks among the lowest in terms of funding education at the federal level, providing only seven percent of the costs. Nations such as Turkey, Korea, Italy, the Czech Republic and Mexico put us to shame. Recent national test scores tell us that 60 percent of 12th graders are below the proficiency level in reading.

By neglecting education today we are not only shortchanging our children's opportunities, we are sapping our nation's future strength.

Right now we have over half-a-million foreign workers here on H1-B visas, those are the visas we give to people from other countries to fill jobs within our borders. We shouldn't have to import workers to fill the high skill, high wage jobs that we have. We should educate our own workers to fill them.

Our economy is faltering. The President has committed to bringing this economy out of recession. After convening an economic summit in Texas last August, which was more show than substance, he hasn't been engaged.

We learned in the last week that incomes declined and the poverty rate increased for the first time in almost a decade. The annual Census Bureau income and poverty report stated that 1.3 million more Americans slipped below the poverty line. This increase means that 11.7 percent of the United States population is defined as living in poverty.

In regard to overall income, the Census Bureau said that the median household income dropped for the first decrease since 1991. In less than two years more than two million private sector jobs have been lost. Our economic growth is the weakest it has been in 50 years.

And for the workers who don't need to worry about their jobs, they are worrying about their savings. More than fifty percent of Americans have investments in the stock market, and they have seen the value of those investments decline by over $4.5 trillion since last January.

Now is the time to restore confidence in the economy. Now is the time to show leadership, but this Administration's economic leadership has been lackluster.

On environmental issues, I fear we are moving backward instead of forward under the Bush Administration. The statistics are startling.

Right now in America there are about 30,000 premature deaths related to power plant pollution, about 160 million people breathing unhealthy air, and significantly higher risks of cancer and developmental problems in urban areas from toxic tailpipe pollution. Think about this, 2,500 Americans face premature death from power plant pollution each month. That's like suffering casualties from Pearl Harbor every thirty days. Parents are thinking twice before telling their kids to go outside and get some fresh air. First, they have to check on air pollution alerts.

And, if global warming proceeds as scientists expect, weather will become increasingly more hostile and difficult to predict.

I was proud to work with the first President Bush on the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990. He called our work, "a new chapter in our environmental history, and a new era for clean air." Now, this President Bush insists on moving us backward, undoing his father's legacy and our nation's environmental policy.

This is a dangerous time. We face many threats. They require all of our best judgment and careful deliberation. Threats of war dominate our headlines. If we were to ignore those threats we would do so at our peril. So too, if we ignore the quiet, steady erosion of economic opportunity and well-being here at home.

If we take action in Iraq, Saddam Hussein will rue the day he defied the international community and the world's greatest power. But our greatness rests on more than our military strength.

It rests on our ability to meet great challenges whenever and wherever they arise. And, Mr. President great challenges have arisen here at home.

Our men and women in uniform wherever they are, whether they are helping to bring order in Kabul or awaiting orders in Kuwait, deserve more than our pride and our support. They deserve to come home to a nation that is not only free but strong and prosperous.

We have got to address all the problems facing this nation. Right now we are not. The drumbeat of war cannot and must not drown out the needs of our families, our children and our environment. I call on President Bush to lead this nation. One person can make a difference, and change only comes one person at a time.

It would be nice if the world were as simple as foreign and domestic, good and bad, or even Democrat and Republican. But the world is not a simple place and problems do not come along one at a time. Now is the time for leadership, collective will and individual action.

In a rush to solve problems overseas, we must not ignore the problems here at home. They are real, and they deserve our attention. There has never been a problem that America could not solve if we come together, and that is exactly what we need to do, what we should do, what we must do now.

johnny · 10-07-2002, 07:08 AM

I wonder if he'll get attention in these times.

Jorath Calar · 10-07-2002, 08:26 AM

Probably not, the voice of reason is usually ignored.

Someone called the gulfwar of Bush Sr "The Persian gulf Distraction", by attacking Iraq he took the americans mind of the domestic issues... looks like junior learned a thing or two from "dad".

And their will be war, and I can tell you why. Bush has decided already decided to attack, set up his puppet government and get access to Iraqs oil resource. All in the name of the war against terrorism. Anyone smell something stinky?

10-07-2002, 10:30 AM

[img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] I notice that Mr. Jeffords left outthe little fact that his party leader was recorded making the comment that they needed to draw out the economic issue till after the election so that they (the Dems) could gain "40 seats". In other words Mr. Jeffords and is cronies while accusing Bush of politicizing the war effort and not paying attention to domestic issues are in fact stalling every effort made to address the issues they accuse him of ignoring. The Democrats right now, today are responsible for purposely making sure every US Citizen is stuck with the status quo, economy wise untill after the elections....they are playing politics with peoples welfare, they are hurting our economy because they KNOW that if the economy gets better they are left in a weak position because Bush is getting too much good will from the "general" populace from politicizing the war effort....quite frankly I would rather they politicize the war and not dick around with the wellfare of our economy and our ability to feed our kids. (we wont mention the fact that the Dems have been guilty of the worst record of abuse concerning judicial appointments as well but thats a whole different issue)

Mr. Jeffords also seems to think that the problems with our schools is under funding. If you look at the national education dollars spent, we SHOULD have the best schools in the world. Unfortunately what Mr. Jeffords ignores is that the problem with our schools is not a lack of funding but a lack of good management and a proliferation of corruption in the school systems. (no not the teachers, its the administration).

All in all Mr. Jeffords ignores the fact that the Dems were in control of both the house and senate for 40 years and failed miserably in all the areas he brings up. He also fails to address the issue that we had 8 years of a president who was of the same party and he failed to accomplish anything on those same issues. All we hear is how we need to confiscate more money from the people who earned it (people in all economic levels) so that we can give it to an ever expanding beauracracy (sp?) to waste, and misuse. Here in the DC area for example, our former Mayor Mr. Marion Berry had reletives and business associates running services for the DC area schools....hundreds of millions of dollars went to these contractors who consistantly did not deliver on the services paid for.

I submit there fore, instead of stealing from the so called rich (ie middle class) and giving to government beauracrats, lets clean up the system and use the over abundance of funding already present in a more efficient and responsible way. Graft, Greed, and Corruption is the problem, not under funding.

And while Im on this little rant, I noticed another little thing that totally horks me off about the Democratic party, and this is it.

The Democrats accuse republicans of making spending "CUTS" When in fact all they did is not make an INCREASE Im sorry but you cannot call it a CUT if the ammount is the same....and whats worse not only do they do that, but they call it a CUT when there is actually an INCREASE but the increas is not as much as they wanted. A little intellectuall honesty please? (no I didnt say that republicans didnt do the same kinds of semantics games or the Libertarians for that matter, they just havent done anything to hork me off recently [img]smile.gif[/img] ) [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img]

10-07-2002, 10:31 AM

On a side note, [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks Skywalker dude [img]smile.gif[/img] I've had that building up for a week while I couldnt get in [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks for providing the venue for me to expostulate

10-07-2002, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jorath Calar:
Probably not, the voice of reason is usually ignored.

Someone called the gulfwar of Bush Sr "The Persian gulf Distraction", by attacking Iraq he took the americans mind of the domestic issues... looks like junior learned a thing or two from "dad".

And their will be war, and I can tell you why. Bush has decided already decided to attack, set up his puppet government and get access to Iraqs oil resource. All in the name of the war against terrorism. Anyone smell something stinky?

Umm JC dude, look at the democrats for the current problem with the "domestic" issues. They haven't wanted to do anything about it all year due to the elections and were even caught commenting on the fact that if they could keep the economy in the tank they could "pick up 40 seats" So since none of YOU will be going to the Gulf to risk your life for our ideals you, really shouldnt mind this politicization of the war. I would be much more highly incensed with people not acting but delaying action on the economy untill their election.

As for your "pupet government" lunacy its totally ridiculous, no matter who takes ownership of Iraq afterwards (and it willnot be the USA) the country will be a member of OPEC and OPEC sets the prices of oil, not Bush, Not the Queen of England and not the Kremlin.

[ 10-07-2002, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

10-07-2002, 10:41 AM

Oh by the way, just a personal opinion. Jim Jeffords is an idiot. He has been a fence rider with his own personal agenda for years, no matter which party he lines up with. He is hardly the poster boy for moral conviction and leadership. he rides the fence and sides wherever he sees an advantage with no concept of consistancy or leadership. Just my Opinion, hehe guess I lump him right up there with Daschell.

10-07-2002, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MagiK:
Oh by the way, just a personal opinion. Jim Jeffords is an idiot. He has been a fence rider with his own personal agenda for years, no matter which party he lines up with. He is hardly the poster boy for moral conviction and leadership. he rides the fence and sides wherever he sees an advantage with no concept of consistancy or leadership. Just my Opinion, hehe guess I lump him right up there with Daschell.

how do i do the colours- something to do with >font.. but if i have a go meself it will all go horribly wrong...

10-07-2002, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Radiant_Memphit:

quote:
Originally posted by MagiK:
Oh by the way, just a personal opinion. Jim Jeffords is an idiot. He has been a fence rider with his own personal agenda for years, no matter which party he lines up with. He is hardly the poster boy for moral conviction and leadership. he rides the fence and sides wherever he sees an advantage with no concept of consistancy or leadership. Just my Opinion, hehe guess I lump him right up there with Daschell.

how do i do the colours- something to do with >font.. but if i have a go meself it will all go horribly wrong...[/QUOTE]RM I will send you a PM to tell you, sinc eit owuld be off topic here [img]smile.gif[/img]

skywalker · 10-07-2002, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MagiK:
On a side note, [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks Skywalker dude [img]smile.gif[/img] I've had that building up for a week while I couldnt get in [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks for providing the venue for me to expostulate

I hate to say no "your welcome" from me.

Mark

10-07-2002, 07:08 AM	#2
johnny 40th Level Warrior Join Date: April 15, 2002 Location: Utrecht The Netherlands Age: 58 Posts: 16,981	I wonder if he'll get attention in these times. __________________

10-07-2002, 07:00 AM	#1
skywalker Banned User Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: VT, USA Age: 63 Posts: 3,097	(I don't know if it is okay to post this (copyright wise). I'll delete if I have to.) This was posted at the website ( http://jeffords.senate.gov/ ) of one the fine Senators of Vermont... probably the most hated by the Republican Party...and one greatest in the USA (IMHO). October 2, 2002 Statement of Senator Jim Jeffords, The Forgotten Agenda Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the state of our nation. Our President has asked us to give him the authority to begin a war with Iraq, and I look forward to a full and frank debate on that question. But today I want to discuss other issues. Important issues, that are not getting the attention they deserve. An agenda the President would rather not discuss. An agenda I fear is being obscured by gathering clouds of war. Whether or not to go to war in Iraq is surely a grave and momentous decision, but I fear our President is neglecting other crucial matters here at home, the quiet crisis American families are facing everyday. In Vermont and across our great land families are hurting. When they send their children to an over-crowded, under-funded school in the morning, they ask, "Is this the best we can do?" When they go to work and see an empty desk beside them they wonder, "Am I next?" and they ask, "Is this the best we can do?" When they see their dwindling retirement accounts and read endlessly of corporate corruption, they ask, is this the best we can do? When they have to cancel their child's doctors appointment because they've lost their health insurance coverage, they ask, "Is this the best we can do?" When they send their kids out to play only to realize that the air pollution levels are dangerously high, they ask, "Is this the best we can do?" Mr. President, is this the best we can do? Of course not, we can do better, we must do better. Because American families deserve better, and they deserve better from their President. In talking about one thing only, the President is forgetting many others. And so today I call on the President to engage this nation on this forgotten agenda. Less than a year after this Congress and the President worked to increase the federal role in elementary and secondary education by passing the "No Child Left Behind Act," we are in danger of leaving many more children behind because sufficient dollars will not be forthcoming to see that every child in this nation receives a quality education. The lack of funding for our nation's schools is a disgrace. Across our nation, headline after headline tells the story of school districts having to cut back staff, end the school day early, and cut short the school year - all because of a lack of funding. More than 25 years ago the federal government promised to pay 40 percent of special education costs for children with disabilities. Today we only pay 18 percent of the costs. That is not just a broken promise for one of the richest nations in the world, it is an outrage. Remember, the very reason that the federal government has a role in education is because the Congress realized that our national defense depended on our students leading the world in math and science. One of this country's first education bills passed in the late 1950's, after the Soviets launched Sputnik. It was entitled the National Defense Education Act. An even more dramatic action occurred after World War II when we passed the GI bill, vastly increasing the federal contribution to education and narrowing the tremendous educational gap. A similar gap exists now. Similar action is needed now. Of the major industrial nations, the United States ranks among the lowest in terms of funding education at the federal level, providing only seven percent of the costs. Nations such as Turkey, Korea, Italy, the Czech Republic and Mexico put us to shame. Recent national test scores tell us that 60 percent of 12th graders are below the proficiency level in reading. By neglecting education today we are not only shortchanging our children's opportunities, we are sapping our nation's future strength. Right now we have over half-a-million foreign workers here on H1-B visas, those are the visas we give to people from other countries to fill jobs within our borders. We shouldn't have to import workers to fill the high skill, high wage jobs that we have. We should educate our own workers to fill them. Our economy is faltering. The President has committed to bringing this economy out of recession. After convening an economic summit in Texas last August, which was more show than substance, he hasn't been engaged. We learned in the last week that incomes declined and the poverty rate increased for the first time in almost a decade. The annual Census Bureau income and poverty report stated that 1.3 million more Americans slipped below the poverty line. This increase means that 11.7 percent of the United States population is defined as living in poverty. In regard to overall income, the Census Bureau said that the median household income dropped for the first decrease since 1991. In less than two years more than two million private sector jobs have been lost. Our economic growth is the weakest it has been in 50 years. And for the workers who don't need to worry about their jobs, they are worrying about their savings. More than fifty percent of Americans have investments in the stock market, and they have seen the value of those investments decline by over $4.5 trillion since last January. Now is the time to restore confidence in the economy. Now is the time to show leadership, but this Administration's economic leadership has been lackluster. On environmental issues, I fear we are moving backward instead of forward under the Bush Administration. The statistics are startling. Right now in America there are about 30,000 premature deaths related to power plant pollution, about 160 million people breathing unhealthy air, and significantly higher risks of cancer and developmental problems in urban areas from toxic tailpipe pollution. Think about this, 2,500 Americans face premature death from power plant pollution each month. That's like suffering casualties from Pearl Harbor every thirty days. Parents are thinking twice before telling their kids to go outside and get some fresh air. First, they have to check on air pollution alerts. And, if global warming proceeds as scientists expect, weather will become increasingly more hostile and difficult to predict. I was proud to work with the first President Bush on the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990. He called our work, "a new chapter in our environmental history, and a new era for clean air." Now, this President Bush insists on moving us backward, undoing his father's legacy and our nation's environmental policy. This is a dangerous time. We face many threats. They require all of our best judgment and careful deliberation. Threats of war dominate our headlines. If we were to ignore those threats we would do so at our peril. So too, if we ignore the quiet, steady erosion of economic opportunity and well-being here at home. If we take action in Iraq, Saddam Hussein will rue the day he defied the international community and the world's greatest power. But our greatness rests on more than our military strength. It rests on our ability to meet great challenges whenever and wherever they arise. And, Mr. President great challenges have arisen here at home. Our men and women in uniform wherever they are, whether they are helping to bring order in Kabul or awaiting orders in Kuwait, deserve more than our pride and our support. They deserve to come home to a nation that is not only free but strong and prosperous. We have got to address all the problems facing this nation. Right now we are not. The drumbeat of war cannot and must not drown out the needs of our families, our children and our environment. I call on President Bush to lead this nation. One person can make a difference, and change only comes one person at a time. It would be nice if the world were as simple as foreign and domestic, good and bad, or even Democrat and Republican. But the world is not a simple place and problems do not come along one at a time. Now is the time for leadership, collective will and individual action. In a rush to solve problems overseas, we must not ignore the problems here at home. They are real, and they deserve our attention. There has never been a problem that America could not solve if we come together, and that is exactly what we need to do, what we should do, what we must do now.

10-07-2002, 08:26 AM	#3
Jorath Calar Harper Join Date: October 6, 2001 Location: Iceland Posts: 4,706	Probably not, the voice of reason is usually ignored. Someone called the gulfwar of Bush Sr "The Persian gulf Distraction", by attacking Iraq he took the americans mind of the domestic issues... looks like junior learned a thing or two from "dad". And their will be war, and I can tell you why. Bush has decided already decided to attack, set up his puppet government and get access to Iraqs oil resource. All in the name of the war against terrorism. Anyone smell something stinky?

10-07-2002, 10:30 AM	#4
MagiK Guest Posts: n/a	[img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] I notice that Mr. Jeffords left outthe little fact that his party leader was recorded making the comment that they needed to draw out the economic issue till after the election so that they (the Dems) could gain "40 seats". In other words Mr. Jeffords and is cronies while accusing Bush of politicizing the war effort and not paying attention to domestic issues are in fact stalling every effort made to address the issues they accuse him of ignoring. The Democrats right now, today are responsible for purposely making sure every US Citizen is stuck with the status quo, economy wise untill after the elections....they are playing politics with peoples welfare, they are hurting our economy because they KNOW that if the economy gets better they are left in a weak position because Bush is getting too much good will from the "general" populace from politicizing the war effort....quite frankly I would rather they politicize the war and not dick around with the wellfare of our economy and our ability to feed our kids. (we wont mention the fact that the Dems have been guilty of the worst record of abuse concerning judicial appointments as well but thats a whole different issue) Mr. Jeffords also seems to think that the problems with our schools is under funding. If you look at the national education dollars spent, we SHOULD have the best schools in the world. Unfortunately what Mr. Jeffords ignores is that the problem with our schools is not a lack of funding but a lack of good management and a proliferation of corruption in the school systems. (no not the teachers, its the administration). All in all Mr. Jeffords ignores the fact that the Dems were in control of both the house and senate for 40 years and failed miserably in all the areas he brings up. He also fails to address the issue that we had 8 years of a president who was of the same party and he failed to accomplish anything on those same issues. All we hear is how we need to confiscate more money from the people who earned it (people in all economic levels) so that we can give it to an ever expanding beauracracy (sp?) to waste, and misuse. Here in the DC area for example, our former Mayor Mr. Marion Berry had reletives and business associates running services for the DC area schools....hundreds of millions of dollars went to these contractors who consistantly did not deliver on the services paid for. I submit there fore, instead of stealing from the so called rich (ie middle class) and giving to government beauracrats, lets clean up the system and use the over abundance of funding already present in a more efficient and responsible way. Graft, Greed, and Corruption is the problem, not under funding. And while Im on this little rant, I noticed another little thing that totally horks me off about the Democratic party, and this is it. The Democrats accuse republicans of making spending "CUTS" When in fact all they did is not make an INCREASE Im sorry but you cannot call it a CUT if the ammount is the same....and whats worse not only do they do that, but they call it a CUT when there is actually an INCREASE but the increas is not as much as they wanted. A little intellectuall honesty please? (no I didnt say that republicans didnt do the same kinds of semantics games or the Libertarians for that matter, they just havent done anything to hork me off recently [img]smile.gif[/img] ) [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img]

10-07-2002, 10:31 AM	#5
MagiK Guest Posts: n/a	On a side note, [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks Skywalker dude [img]smile.gif[/img] I've had that building up for a week while I couldnt get in [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks for providing the venue for me to expostulate

10-07-2002, 10:41 AM	#7
MagiK Guest Posts: n/a	Oh by the way, just a personal opinion. Jim Jeffords is an idiot. He has been a fence rider with his own personal agenda for years, no matter which party he lines up with. He is hardly the poster boy for moral conviction and leadership. he rides the fence and sides wherever he sees an advantage with no concept of consistancy or leadership. Just my Opinion, hehe guess I lump him right up there with Daschell.

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