INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2003
Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise in support of my amendment to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that is being considered today. Before I get into the amendment, I thank the chairman and the ranking member of the committee, Senators GREGG and Kennedy, for all their hard work in bringing this bill to the floor. It has been a long and, at times, I know a tedious process.
The issues inherent in this bill are complicated, and I respect the strong effort of both Senators GREGG and KENNEDY to work together in a bipartisan fashion to move the process forward. I also thank their two key staff members, Connie Garner for Senator Kennedy and Annie White for Senator Gregg, because they have worked extraordinarily hard and diligently to ensure that this legislation, which affects millions of children with disabilities, will be reauthorized and will improve the lives of so many of these children and their families.
I also thank Senators GREGG and KENNEDY for being supportive of this amendment.
My amendment is very simple and straightforward but I think very important. It proposes to make the Department of Education a key partner in the development and execution of the National Children's Study.
The National Children's Study will be the most important study of children with disabilities ever undertaken. It will provide a comprehensive examination of the effects of environmental influences, as well as many other factors affecting growth and development, from birth until age 21. The overarching goal of this study is to give us information to enable us to improve the health and well-being of our children and, in particular, what more can be done to prevent, treat, ameliorate, and cure disabilities.
The National Children's Study was authorized by the Children's Health Act of 2000. All of the key Federal departments with jurisdiction over children's health and welfare, including
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the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency, are sponsors and partners in the completion of this critical study.
It is absolutely essential that these agencies work together, but missing from the list is the Department of Education. Despite the fact that children in our country spend 6 to 8 hours or more in school, the Department of Education is not one of the agencies explicitly included as a participant in the national children's study.
I believe this study has the potential to provide significant value, but it will be missing a critical source of information if the Department of Education is not a full partner.....................................