mr. chairman , i believe very strongly in balancing our budget and reducing the deficit , but i think we need to set certain priorities that are important to our families . 
my hope is that we do this in a bipartisan approach , that we develop a consensus , and i do want to thank the gentleman from iowa and the committee for allowing us to put some committee report language dealing with education in the budget and with results-oriented budgeting which i believe we need here at this house . 
we need to balance the budget , but i think we need to protect our families and we need to make sure that we ensure that we are not trying to fix the deficit on the backs of the country 's working class . 
the budget includes the termination of 150 programs . 
nearly one in three of them are in education . 
it eliminates programs essential to our children 's futures , such as even start , upward bound , talent search , gear up , perkins loans , pell grants and leap programs . 
it also does not allow us to give the full funding for special education . 
it also eliminates certain programs , such as the vocational education , nearly $ 1.3 billion in cuts . 
the safe and drug-free schools state programs which are so vital to our communities is eliminated . 
again , i believe in education . 
in my life , education has been one of the most invaluable tools that has made it possible for me to open up doors , move forward to attain higher goals and make my dreams a possibility . 
i feel very strongly about financial aid . 
in fact , i think we need to restore the funding to these vital education programs , especially increasing the $ 100 maximum pell grant award . 
this fulfills the president 's request of increasing the maximum pell grant by $ 100 without paying for it by taking from other parts of the education budget . 
as a member of the committee on the budget , i think we should ensure that the federal government investment is available to fulfill our commitment to helping low income students get into and graduate from college . 
college enrollment is slated to grow by almost 19 percent between now and 2015 . 
this group increasingly will be comprised of full-time , nontraditional students , college age , first generation , low income and minority students . 
most of these will likely need and will qualify for student financial aid . 
my test for considering any budget proposal is whether it will make our families stronger . 
this budget proposal in my opinion does not make our families stronger . 
i urge our colleagues to vote in favor of strengthening and protecting our young children by protecting education . 
mr. chairman , again , i hope we do this in a bipartisan approach and find a consensus . 
