Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who introduced the amendment with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), pointed out that the president’s original budget proposal “includes the largest cut to education in the 26-year history of the Department of Education. . . . The passage of this amendment has sent the president a powerful message that these misguided priorities will no longer be tolerated by the American people or by Congress,” he said.
Melanie Anderson, assistant director of ALA’s Office of Government Relations, told American Libraries that rather than offering an amendment to request funding for any specific program, Specter and Harkin’s approach was an “amazing effort, almost unprecedented,” that got everyone to join together to restore funding to FY 2005 levels.
Posted March 17, 2006.