00:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While the Defense Appropriations Bill funds $15 million for HIV prevention educational activities undertaken in connection with the United States military training exercises and humanitarian assistance activities conducted primarily in Africa, I want to talk about something that is plaguing black Americans today.
00:26According to the Department of Education, 85% of black students lack proficiency in mathematics and reading skills. That's appalling. That is a failure of our education system to black Americans.
00:41But in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, we're supposed to send $15 million to teach people, teach soldiers and teach them how to avoid getting AIDS? Isn't this already known?
00:55This has been going on for years and years and years and we're having to pay for that? Why are the American people that are $37 trillion in debt having to pay for people in Africa, soldiers in Africa, to tell them how to avoid getting AIDS?
01:10When our own black students here in America, 85% of them lack proficiency in mathematics and reading skills, which is extremely important for their success in their adult life.
01:25Furthermore, there are entire high schools in our cities where not a single student scores proficiently on a standardized test.
01:37But the most important thing we can do is send $15 million to teach adult soldiers in Africa how to not get AIDS?
01:47This is insanity. And this is the exact America last spending that the American people are fed up with.
01:56Mr. Speaker, at what point does sanity enter the halls of Congress? Because it hasn't been here for a very long time.
02:04Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this amendment to at least save the American people $15 million or help students in America. I yield.
