mr. chairman , i thank the chairman for yielding me the time . 
i rise in strong support of h.r. 2123 , the school readiness act of 2005 . 
as a former head start volunteer , i know firsthand the tremendous benefits this program has delivered for children , but never did i think that summer , the first year of head start 's existence , that i would one day be a part of the congress in reauthorizing head start . 
during the full committee markup for this legislation , i was pleased to join with my colleagues , the gentleman from pennsylvania ( mr. platts ) xz4003210 and the gentleman from maryland ( mr. van hollen ) xz4004150 , in offering an amendment that will provide some commonsense flexibility for head start centers to use the open slots for the early head start program . 
mr. chairman , the committee on education and the workforce learned that more head start-eligible children ages 3 to 5 are participating in state prekindergarten programs because there are more of them , leaving some of the head start programs with unused slots . 
but because of the high need for infant child care , early head start programs , the early ones , serving children from birth through age 3 , maintain long waiting lists . 
this amendment will allow those head start centers that have vacant slots to use the funding to serve eligible infants and toddlers through the early head start programs . 
as a mother and grandmother , i can tell you firsthand that the first years of a child 's life are crucial to his or her development . 
research has shown time and time again that infants who receive the high-quality child care and early education programs do better in school , have more developed social skills , and display fewer behavior problems . 
the amendment allows a commonsense way to expand these services to those who certainly can benefit from them . 
i would like to thank the chairman of the committee , the gentleman from ohio ( mr. boehner ) xz4000360 ; the chairman of the subcommittee , the gentleman from delaware ( mr. castle ) xz4000700 ; and the members of the committee for supporting this amendment in the full committee markup . 
i am pleased it was incorporated into the bill we are considering today , and i urge my colleagues to support the head start bill . 
