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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release June 3, 2000
                  PRESIDENT CLINTON CALLS ON CONGRESS
               TO INVEST IN ESSENTIAL EDUCATION PRIORITIES              

Today President Clinton will call on the Congress to pass a budget that invests in our schools and demands more from them. In February the President sent the Congress a balanced and responsible budget that made investments in key educational initiatives to raise standards, increase accountability, and invest in what works. The Congressional Republicans have passed a budget plan built on misguided priorities and insufficient resources. To pay for risky and irresponsible tax cuts, the Congressional Republican budget would cut investments in domestic priorities $29 billion below the President's level, an average cut of 9 percent. The budget plan passed on a party-line vote by the U.S. House of Representatives appropriations committee:

Moreover, the House and Senate have ignored the President's major education tax cuts: -- Nearly $25 Billion in School Modernization Bonds to help build and modernize 6,000 schools. Districts urgently need help accommodating record enrollments and repairing crumbling buildings. Because interest on the bonds would be paid by federal tax credits, the bonds allow districts to borrow interest-free.

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