WASHINGTON -- Senator Chuck Grassley last night said that his amendment to ensure that America’s best and brightest students are not shortchanged passed the Senate by a voice vote as part of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill.
“This appropriations bill includes $5.35 billion more than last year, but one program not seeing part of that increase is the only source of federal funds currently focused on helping meet the unique learning needs of gifted and talented students,” Grassley said.
“Federal education policy started with an urgency to support and encourage students to excel in fields that were considered to be of major importance to national security during the Cold War,” Grassley added. “We don’t have communism to fight or a Sputnik to follow, but we are competing in a global economy. In order for America to keep its competitive edge, we must encourage and help all students reach their full potential.”
Grassley’s first amendment would increase the fee employers pay for H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers and provide the additional money to the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act and the American Competitiveness Scholarship Program. The amendment would charge a fee to employers who are investing in talent from abroad and use it to invest in talent for the future at home. The amendment is part of Grassley’s work to improve the H-1B visa program. Earlier this year Grassley, along with Senator Dick Durbin, introduced legislation to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programs to give priority to American workers and crack down on unscrupulous employers who deprive qualified Americans of high-skilled jobs.
Grassley has been the leading advocate for talented and gifted children in the U.S. Congress and has worked to ensure that they have access to the education needed to reach their full potential. Grassley advanced legislation that would expand the availability of gifted education services and he was successful in expanding the benefits available for gifted students through the No Child Left Behind Act.
Here’s Grassley’s prepared floor statement upon adoption of the amendment.
Mr. President,
I would like to speak to what this bill does... or does not do for our most promising students. In his best selling book, “The World is Flat,” Thomas Friedman discusses the challenges of globalism using the metaphor of the world getting flatter. What he means is that international barriers to the movement of goods, services, people, and ideas are breaking down. That means that American businesses are facing competition from different sources, and the competition will only get fiercer. If Americans want us to remain an economic leader and keep high paying jobs, we’ll need to stay one step ahead of others around the world in coming up with new ideas and innovative products and services.
Thomas Friedman likens this moment in American history to the height of the Cold War when the Soviet Union leaped ahead of America in the space race by putting up the Sputnik satellite. In response to Sputnik, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which really started the federal involvement in education. According to Thomas Friedman, to meet the challenges of what he calls “flatism” will require, “as comprehensive, energetic, and focused a response as did meeting the challenge of communism.”
We’ve heard a lot of talk in Congress about the need to do something about American competitiveness. In fact, earlier this year we passed the America Competes Bill, authorizing a series of new programs designed to stimulate advanced learning by young Americans. But are we serious about that?
The bill before us today is a $5.35 billion increase over the previous year. That’s not small potatoes. That’s enough to give a boost to a lot of programs. But one program that is not seeing a boost is the only source of federal funds currently focused on helping meet the unique learning needs of gifted and talented students. The Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act has suffered a series of cuts in recent years due to across the board recessions.
For the current fiscal year, Congress passed an unusual type of modified continuing resolution. While the continuing resolution contained no specific language further cutting funding for gifted education, the program mysteriously suffered a significant 21 percent cut. In total, gifted and talented education has taken a 33 percent cut since 2002, and that’s not adjusted for inflation. The current bill retains that cut.
If we are serious about maintaining America’s competitive edge internationally, our most promising students must be challenged and supported to reach their full potential. We need these talented young people to go on to pursue advanced degrees and make the technological innovations that drive our economy. Make no mistake; that will not happen by itself.
Gifted students learn faster and to a greater depth than other students and often look at the world differently than other students. As a result, it takes a great deal more to keep them challenged and stimulated. If gifted students are not sufficiently stimulated, they often learn to get by with minimum effort and adopt poor learning habits that can prevent them from achieving to their potential. In fact, many gifted and talented students underachieve or even drop out of school.
The book “Genius Denied,” by Jan and Bob Davidson from the Majority Leader’s home state of Nevada, chronicles how we are letting gifted students throughout the Nation fall through the cracks, wasting their potential. The Belin-Blank Center in my home state of Iowa produced a report titled, “A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students.” We must do a better job of developing American talent if America is to remain competitive in the global economy.
Twice now, on the competitiveness bill and the immigration bill, I have proposed an amendment to provide an appropriate funding source for gifted and talented education. My proposal would increase the fee employers pay for H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers to come to the United States and use that additional funding for the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act.
H-1B visas are temporary visas. Highly skilled foreign workers come to the United States, often working for less than Americans, and garner useful experience with American companies. Then, by the nature of the H-1B program, they go home to use their talent in their native country. That’s hardly a permanent solution to our need for talented workers. Doesn’t it make sense to charge a fee to those investing in temporary talent from abroad and use it to invest in permanent talent for the future here at home?
The modified amendment at the desk is a compromise that I worked out with the Senator from Vermont , Mr. Sanders. The modification includes language that was agreed to during the immigration debate. In fact, a similar amendment passed the Senate with a 59 vote majority. It would increase the fee for H-1B visas and use the revenue to support gifted and talented education as well as an American Competitiveness Scholarship Program that the Senator from Vermont has authored. I support his goal of creating a scholarship program for students pursing a degree in math, engineering, health care or computer science. I appreciate Senator Sanders’ willingness to help me, and to provide needed funding for gifted and talented students.
Mr. President, we cannot continue to shortchange our best and brightest students and still expect excellence from them. Gifted students are the innovators of tomorrow that will keep our economic pump primed. For their sake and ours, we cannot afford to squander this vital national resource. I urge the adoption of my amendment.