are able to remain in the dormitory for extended periods of time. This group includes members in wheelchairs, motorized carts, others recovering from strokes, fractures, amputations and some form of mental aberration.

b. Starting in May 1991, expanded assisted living services will be provided in another of the central dormitories and will include specially trained staff personnel in the fields of nursing, recreation, psychology and geriatrics to insure that residents with health support needs become more active within the community.

C.

Handicapped dining room service, daily community health evaluations, structured exercise and other indoor activities, coupled with recreation bus trips and other special individual and group endeavors provides the framework for an on-going, ever expanding array of resident community involvement. The end results of these staff programming efforts will enhance the longevity and quality of life of marginally able members within the dormitories.

SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

Senator HARKIN. Thank you. The subcommittee will stand in recess until 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 6, when we will meet in SD192 to begin our public witness hearings on the budget request.

[Whereupon, at 5:25 p.m., Thursday, March 21, the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 16.]

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1992

THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1991

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS,

Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 2:28 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Tom Harkin (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Harkin, Bumpers, Specter, Hatfield, Cochran, and Gorton.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

STATEMENT OF LAMAR ALEXANDER, SECRETARY

ACCOMPANIED BY:

TED SANDERS, DEPUTY SECRETARY

SALLY H. CHRISTENSEN, ACTING DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY FOR PLANNING, BUDGET AND EVALUATION

OPENING REMARKS OF SENATOR HARKIN

Senator HARKIN. Good afternoon. The Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies will come to order.

It is a real pleasure to welcome Lamar Alexander, our new Secretary of Education, to the committee today. Secretary Alexander brings to the job a long background of strong support for education and a track record of genuine leadership.

Secretary Alexander has already demonstrated a great amount of leadership in his first 4 weeks on the job by developing and promoting a consensus for the White House announced America 2000 education initiative. Secretary Alexander has also moved quickly to bring a new leadership team to the Department, and has put into place a reorganization of student financial assistance programs. Mr. Secretary, you are off to a very fast and strong start.

I think all the members of the subcommittee will join me in expressing to you our interest in working with you to develop the fiscal year 1992 budget for the Department of Education. While we will no doubt have some differences over some of the details and

directions, we do all share the same goal of improving and strengthening education in America.

FISCAL YEAR 1992 EDUCATION BUDGET REQUEST

This year the administration has requested $29.6 billion for the Department of Education, which is $2.5 billion or 9.3 percent over the fiscal year 1991 level. Well now, that sounds good. Unfortunately $1.7 billion of this increase is simply for a bookkeeping change required by the credit reform legislation enacted by the Congress last year. So the discretionary increases for the Department of Education total only $768 million, or only 3.7 percent more than last year. When we consider the effects of inflation, discretionary programs in the Department are actually being cut.

AMERICA 2000: AN EDUCATION STRATEGY

An amount of $690 million of this discretionary increase is associated with the President's new education initiative, America 2000. Until we see the details it is difficult to evaluate, but it should make an important contribution to our continuing discussions as to how to improve education in America.

I do have, Mr. Secretary, a number of concerns. One of my concerns is that the package does not adequately address meeting the first goal, that of ensuring that all children start school ready to learn by the year 2000. I know you have heard me talk about this, and I am going to start sounding like a broken record, but I am just going to keep saying it, because I feel that strongly about it. None of the important Federal programs, such as Head Start, maternal and child health, childhood immunizations, WIC Program, which help ensure that children are well nourished, healthy, and ready to learn, are addressed by America 2000.

COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT

I might just point out the Committee for Economic Development issued a report on February 28. This is a committee of some of the leading CEO's in America, headed by the CEO of Honeywell in Minneapolis, Mr. Renier, James Renier. And let me just quote to you the third paragraph on the first page. The new innovation for child development and education calls for a systematic reappraisal of the way children are prepared for school, and urges:

A comprehensive and coordinated strategy for human investment that redefines education as a process that begins at birth and recognizes that preparation for learning begins even before birth.

PELL GRANTS

Also the plan makes no new Federal, new investment in core Federal education programs such as chapter 1, special education, Pell grants, and other student aid. These programs have been working. We have a long way to go to fully fund them. For example, over 4 million eligible children are currently not provided with chapter 1 reading and math. Funding for the 4.4 million children with disabilities meets only 25 percent of the standard set by law

for our disabled children. Pell grants now meet only 20 percent of the average tuition cost for students that qualify.

CHOICE PROGRAM

One of the America 2000 proposals will clearly be controversial, and that is a $200 million proposal for a new choice program that would include private schools. Similar proposals have been rejected by the Congress in the past. Of course this is going to be an area for the authorizing committee, not for this subcommittee.

NEW AUTHORIZING LEGISLATION REQUIRED

Virtually all the America 2000 initiatives will require the enactment of new authorizing legislation, and again that is important to this subcommittee. Many of the core programs, such as special education, rehabilitation services, all the higher education programs, need to be reauthorized for fiscal year 1992. Of the President's request for 1992, a full $17.1 billion, or 58 percent of the Department's request, requires new authorizing legislation for 1992. My point in bringing this out is that it is highly unlikely that this authorizing legislation will be enacted in time for our markup, since we are going to be starting our markup in just a few weeks.

And, therefore, Mr. Secretary, we will need your advice on developing a budget that is based on current law that would get us on the path of meeting the America 2000 goals. And so we welcome and invite your advice in this regard.

Secretary ALEXANDER. Thank you.

Senator HARKIN. Mr. Secretary, I want to say again that I look forward to continuing the good relationship that this subcommittee has enjoyed with the Department. I commend you on getting off to a very fast and good start. And I know I look forward to working with you on the many matters that will come before us in funding these programs.

Now I yield to the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania, the ranking member of this subcommittee, Senator Specter, for any opening statement that he may wish to make.

STATEMENT OF SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER

Senator SPECTER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Secretary, I join my colleague, Chairman Harkin, in welcoming you to this subcommittee. We are charged with an extremely important objective in providing appropriations for Federal educational programs, and we have a difficult subcommittee because we have labor, health and human services, as well as education. But there is a commitment on the part of every member of this subcommittee to do our utmost to find every last available dollar to help on education.

I join Chairman Harkin in complimenting you on your fast start. But then you had a head start in your background. You have had a very distinguished career as Governor of Tennessee and president of the University of Tennessee.

I had the opportunity to be present when President Bush outlined his program for education last week in the White House, and