In reality. education is once again under the budgetary ax. This proposal seeks to eliminate the direct student loan program. affecting over 2.5 million students and cutting nearly S4.5 billion over 6 years. There are also a number of substantial cuts and terminations in discretionary education spending. including an elimination of the Goals 2000 and bilingual and immigrant education. The termination of the bilingual education program will be devastating to El Paso. In fiscal year 1996 El Paso received S661.246 in bilingual education grants. Losing this source of funding would put an enormous burden on our schools. Our immigrant population is growing. and the vast majority of these immigrants are from Asia and Latin America. if we capitalize upon their linguistic abilities. we can ensure that young immigrants and the children of immigrants will be a valuable asset to our national competitiveness in the global economy. If we fail to adequately fund bilingual and immigrant education. we will set up many children for failure and lose the benefits of their valuable linguistic skills. In the long run. the result will be that many of our young immigrants and their children will be able to contribute fully to the future stability of our economy. I do not believe that neglecting the needs of a portion of our population that speaks English as a second language is sound policy. If we do not provide adequate funding for this program now. we will pay heavily in the future.
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immigrant immigrants