Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 15, 1995 TAG: 9508150026
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HENRY W. TIELEMAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The GOP is showing its true colors by cutting federal outlays for vital social programs beneficial to hard-working, low-income American families. Republicans propose to balance the budget in ways that will hurt working and elderly Americans the most. Simultaneously, they promise a huge tax cut targeted largely on the well-to-do, who do not need it.
Congress is preparing legislation that cuts social programs across the board and deeply. This slashing approach affects critical resources for education, job training, health care and the environment. These harsh, unwise cuts will cripple future income and living standards for children, working families and the elderly, who can least afford it.
Everyone is for cutting unnecessary federal spending. However, government should not negate the nation's commitment to education, health care and the environment. Americans want to see educational standards raised, with improved outcomes leading to meaningful job opportunities. They want access to college. They want our schools to be safe and drug-free.
Republicans have approved a $36 billion cut in educational spending over seven years. President Clinton's balanced-budget approach increases investment in education by $40 billion over the same period. The GOP budget proposals would mean that federal education funding for Virginia alone would be reduced by approximately $100 millon per year.
The president's proposals would allow Head Start to reach another 50,000 youngsters, bringing the benefits to 800,000 deserving children. The Republican proposals reduce the current figure by 200,000. Do we really wish to deny our children and limit their future in this way?
Republican proposals would dramatically affect elementary and secondary education by:
Eliminating Goals 2000, the Educate America Act, and in this way deny assistance to local schools in raising educational standards.
Cutting by $1.1 billion the Title 1 funding to provide special education for disadvantaged students.
Cutting funding for the Safe and Drug-Free Program by 30 percent by turning it into a block grant.
Shrinking by 50 percent the Technology for Education program, which assists underfunded schools have the benefit of computers and other high-tech equipment.
Similarly reducing School-To-Work Opportunities, which provides funds for the vocational training of 70 percent of American youngsters who do not go on to higher education.
Eliminating the Summer Jobs program.
GOP proposals will also devastate programs dealing with postsecondary education by:
Sharply reducing the Pell Grants, which provide college education for the sons and daughters of working families.
Eliminating AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National Service.
Cutting $10 billion for student loans and the direct-lending program.
Eliminating the tax deduction for lower- and middle-income families with education expenses up to $10,000.
Neither would adult education be spared the knife. The president's request for funding of the ``Skill Grants'' program would be cut in half.
The Republican agenda would make it more difficult for working American families to afford a college education for their children. For students who need and receive a government-subsidized loan, the price of a college education could rise as much as 36 percent. Students would pay an additional $40,000 for a typical loan paid back over 10 years. Our nation's 1.8 million graduate students from poor and middle-income backgrounds would be hit the hardest, and might not be able to complete their educational program already started.
Religious conservatives and Gov. George Allen oppose federal financial support for public education on the basis it could lead to federal control of our schools. Nonsense! The programs the Republicans want to cut or eliminate seek only to promote educational opportunity and excellence. The programs benefit public education immensely.
President Clinton has said he will not allow Congress to make our children, our schools, our workers and our environment suffer to fund a tax cut for the wealthy, and simultaneously meet the arbitrary targets in Republicans' balanced-budget proposals. It is ironic that business analyses have demonstrated that the GOP proposals cut the budget too fast, which may lead to increased unemployment and the onset of a recession, postponing the very balance-the-budget plans the Republicans profess to be implementing.
Uncommitted and neutral Americans, I hope, will join in opposing the Republicans' attempt to impose their extreme budget agenda on our nation. The GOP has declared war on our educational system at all its levels, and it is time for all concerned Americans to fight back!
Henry W. Tieleman, a professor of engineering science and mechanics at Virginia Tech, is a member of the Virginia Democratic Central Committee.
by CNB