Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Interview With Margaret Spellings
Aired January 08, 2004 - 10:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is spending part of the day observing the second anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act. It was designed to improve the quality of public schools around the country.
Also yesterday the president unveiled a plan to revamp the immigration laws to give illegal immigrants the right to become legal temporary workers. Margaret Spellings, assistant to President Bush on domestic policy, joins us from Washington to talk about the programs. Good morning. Good to have you here with us.
MARGARET SPELLINGS, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR DOMESTIC POLICY: Good morning. Thank you.
KAGAN: I'd like to go ahead and start with immigration because It got some very interesting reaction from different camps. And I want to start with actually from the Republican Party, Tom DeLay. He himself coming out representing conservatives saying that -- very concerned because they believe that this is amnesty and basically you're rewarding illegal behavior.
SPELLINGS: Well, it's not amnesty because amnesty as previously enacted has put folks who are here illegally immediately on a path to citizenship, given them green cards and this is not that. This is a plan that would give a temporary worker status, a term of three years, which could be renewed strictly to come here and work and return home at the end of the worker program.
KAGAN: So you don't think it rewards illegal behavior?
SPELLINGS: I don't think it puts people on the track to citizenship and rewards illegal behavior in that way at all, no.
KAGAN: Which is interesting because that's the exact type of criticism that comes from Democratic camp, at least from Senator John Kerry, who would like your boss' job. He's out there on the campaign trail.
He says that the problem with this, really, you're just providing -- this is being for big business. You're providing cheap labor and a big pool of cheap labor. And it does not look in the interest of the people. There is no passage to citizenship or legal residency.
SPELLINGS: Well, certainly this is good for the American economy, both for business and for workers. It's good for the temporary workers themselves because these folks (UNINTELLIGIBLE) can come out of the shadows of the underground economy, have worker protections like minimum wage laws, work place safety protections and the like.
So while it is good for Americans' businesses, it's also good for the workers and for the temporary workers from abroad.
KAGAN: And let's talk about America's children and the anniversary of the -- second anniversary of No Child Left Behind. We're going to see President Bush later today in Knoxville, Tennessee. A lot of Democrats say this is actually no promise left behind. The ideas were great. They applauded it. We saw Senator Ted Kennedy up there with the president when the bill was signed.
And yet they're saying, show us the money. We need the money to make these programs work.
SPELLINGS: Well the president will announce today in fact that with enactment of his '05 budget, there will be over a 50 percent increase in Title I funding, funding for our most disadvantaged students, quadrupling the resources for reading, $400 million to do the state assessments that are required of No Child Left behind, over 50 percent increase in special education.
So while the resources that have been provided, what No Child Left Behind is about is getting results for kids. Making sure all kids learn to read and do math and are not left behind. And this puts resources with accountability for results for kids.
KAGAN: And there will be enough money to make sure that those, especially the poor students that, in fact, they won't be completely left behind. because how this works indeed is if you do not pass certain test scores, you are left behind.
SPELLINGS: If you -- what we have found, as late as the end of last year, is the new education report card, the new test results are showing great gains in mathematics results, a nine-point increase for fourth graders a five-point increase for eighth graders, good sustaining of gains in reading.
So we're making progress. Kids are doing better given this new policy of measuring every year. Educators are starting to embrace this policy because it lets them know how kids are doing and who needs help. It lets them improve the instructional process for the good of kids.
KAGAN: Margaret Spellings, appreciate your time today. Thank for being with us.
SPELLINGS: Glad to.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 8, 2004 - 10:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is spending part of the day observing the second anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act. It was designed to improve the quality of public schools around the country.
Also yesterday the president unveiled a plan to revamp the immigration laws to give illegal immigrants the right to become legal temporary workers. Margaret Spellings, assistant to President Bush on domestic policy, joins us from Washington to talk about the programs. Good morning. Good to have you here with us.
MARGARET SPELLINGS, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR DOMESTIC POLICY: Good morning. Thank you.
KAGAN: I'd like to go ahead and start with immigration because It got some very interesting reaction from different camps. And I want to start with actually from the Republican Party, Tom DeLay. He himself coming out representing conservatives saying that -- very concerned because they believe that this is amnesty and basically you're rewarding illegal behavior.
SPELLINGS: Well, it's not amnesty because amnesty as previously enacted has put folks who are here illegally immediately on a path to citizenship, given them green cards and this is not that. This is a plan that would give a temporary worker status, a term of three years, which could be renewed strictly to come here and work and return home at the end of the worker program.
KAGAN: So you don't think it rewards illegal behavior?
SPELLINGS: I don't think it puts people on the track to citizenship and rewards illegal behavior in that way at all, no.
KAGAN: Which is interesting because that's the exact type of criticism that comes from Democratic camp, at least from Senator John Kerry, who would like your boss' job. He's out there on the campaign trail.
He says that the problem with this, really, you're just providing -- this is being for big business. You're providing cheap labor and a big pool of cheap labor. And it does not look in the interest of the people. There is no passage to citizenship or legal residency.
SPELLINGS: Well, certainly this is good for the American economy, both for business and for workers. It's good for the temporary workers themselves because these folks (UNINTELLIGIBLE) can come out of the shadows of the underground economy, have worker protections like minimum wage laws, work place safety protections and the like.
So while it is good for Americans' businesses, it's also good for the workers and for the temporary workers from abroad.
KAGAN: And let's talk about America's children and the anniversary of the -- second anniversary of No Child Left Behind. We're going to see President Bush later today in Knoxville, Tennessee. A lot of Democrats say this is actually no promise left behind. The ideas were great. They applauded it. We saw Senator Ted Kennedy up there with the president when the bill was signed.
And yet they're saying, show us the money. We need the money to make these programs work.
SPELLINGS: Well the president will announce today in fact that with enactment of his '05 budget, there will be over a 50 percent increase in Title I funding, funding for our most disadvantaged students, quadrupling the resources for reading, $400 million to do the state assessments that are required of No Child Left behind, over 50 percent increase in special education.
So while the resources that have been provided, what No Child Left Behind is about is getting results for kids. Making sure all kids learn to read and do math and are not left behind. And this puts resources with accountability for results for kids.
KAGAN: And there will be enough money to make sure that those, especially the poor students that, in fact, they won't be completely left behind. because how this works indeed is if you do not pass certain test scores, you are left behind.
SPELLINGS: If you -- what we have found, as late as the end of last year, is the new education report card, the new test results are showing great gains in mathematics results, a nine-point increase for fourth graders a five-point increase for eighth graders, good sustaining of gains in reading.
So we're making progress. Kids are doing better given this new policy of measuring every year. Educators are starting to embrace this policy because it lets them know how kids are doing and who needs help. It lets them improve the instructional process for the good of kids.
KAGAN: Margaret Spellings, appreciate your time today. Thank for being with us.
SPELLINGS: Glad to.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
