[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H2990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            PUBLIC EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Stevens) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, what an honor it is to be on this House 
floor with you here today in representation of the 700,000 constituents 
I serve from Michigan's 11th District. We are here for the activity of 
this House floor. We are here for the grand deliberation of our 
democracy and for the discourse that makes our Nation's laws.
  It is clear, Mr. Speaker, that this pandemic is continuing to pose a 
serious threat to our communities and to our Nation. As the global 
death toll has crossed 500,000 this week alone, the World Health 
Organization has warned that the worst is yet to come. The suffering 
and loss of life that we have already endured in Michigan and 
throughout this Nation is unfathomable.
  We must recommit to saving lives by listening to the guidance of the 
public health experts who are telling us to wear a mask and to socially 
distance as much as possible. We must recommit to the science that 
stands before us.
  As a result of this pandemic, Mr. Speaker, we must look at the battle 
before us in terms of what our States are facing with budget 
shortfalls. You see, Mr. Speaker, this is what we do as appropriators, 
as individuals who conduct oversight and who authorize the activity and 
the efforts of our Federal agencies and for the Nation's purse strings.
  Without additional Federal funding for Michigan's public schools, a 
typical school district in Michigan is looking at a $750-per-pupil cut 
to our State's budget shortfall.
  The White House recently signed an executive order saying, we are 
going to look for the skills in an individual. How do you obtain the 
skills if you are not in a fully funded school? When first robotics 
doesn't exist, when the skills training doesn't exist, and when the 
guidance counselors who are going to be there to shepherd our students 
through this trauma they endured cannot do their jobs?
  When we are cutting, cutting, cutting. And then we say: Guess what? 
The Federal taxpayer dollars that you pay and the State taxpayer 
dollars that you pay are not enough.
  Who pays again?
  Who pays again?
  It is the middle class. It is the individual.
  Mr. Speaker, I am tired of it. I am tired of the tax cuts for the 
wealthiest corporations at the expense of our middle class. I am here 
to deliver for my constituents. I am here to give them a return on 
their investment that they make every year. They are looking at us.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, this is something that this House majority has 
already done in the HEROES Act. We have already taken these steps to 
address these budget shortfalls. We are here today to vote on an 
infrastructure bill to rebuild America's schools, to put people back to 
work, and to stand for the best this Nation has to offer.
  I did this work in the halls of government on the other side of 
Pennsylvania Avenue during another time of crisis, during another time 
of choppy waters, and I am a believer in these institutions, Mr. 
Speaker. I saw what happens when Democrats and Republicans come 
together for the best outcomes, when we rescued the auto industry and 
millions of auto worker jobs, saying, we will not let you fail, picking 
up from where the Bush administration left off and where the Obama 
administration finished it.
  We will not let you fail. That is what I say from this House floor 
today on behalf of the 700,000 constituents from Michigan's 11th 
District I proudly represent.

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