[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 106 (Thursday, July 18, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8151-S8152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE REALITY BEHIND CANDIDATE BOB DOLE'S VOUCHER PROPOSAL

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Yesterday Candidate Bob Dole claimed to 
offer Americans an ``Education Consumer's Warranty.'' Today, we saw the 
reality behind the claim--a recycled plan called Opportunity 
Scholarships that gives opportunity to the few at the expense of the 
many.
  Candidate Dole's $2.5 billion plan would pay $500 toward $1,000 
vouchers for elementary school students and $750 toward $1,500 vouchers 
for high school students. States would have to match the Federal 
voucher.
  Candidate Dole's new-found appreciation of the importance of 
education comes on the heels of a long and distressing anti-education 
record, including opposition to public school choice and grants for 
higher education.
  Last year, as majority leader, Senator Dole voted to cut $25 billion 
from education programs that help 52 million students learn reading and 
math skills, that help teachers to teach, and that prevent violence and 
drug abuse in school. With strong leadership from President Clinton, 
Congress rejected those devastating Republican cuts.
  Candidate Dole claims that his voucher plan is modeled after the G.I. 
Bill of Rights and other Federal programs that help students afford 
college. But in Congress, Bob Dole has a 3-decade-long record of 
opposition to Federal college aid. In 1965, as a member of the House of 
Representatives, he voted against the creation of the first

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Federal student loan program. Twice in the 1980s, he voted to cut Pell 
Grants, which he now endorses.
  He claims that under his voucher plan, students will be able to go to 
the private school of their choice. But private schools can decide 
whether to accept a child or not. The real choice is made by the 
schools, not parents. The more exclusive the school, the more students 
will be excluded.
  Scarce Federal dollars should not go to schools that can exclude 
children they do not want. Public schools are already starved for 
funds. The Dole voucher scheme will inevitably make their plight much 
worse. We do not have to destroy the public schools in order to save 
them.
  President Clinton and Democrats support true choice--public school 
choice--where every child has an equal opportunity to go to the school 
of their choice within the public school system.
  President Clinton has been and is a leader in the movement for public 
school choice, which is supported by a vast majority of Americans. In 
this year's State of the Union Address, President Clinton said, ``I 
challenge every State to give all parents the right to choose which 
public school children will attend.''
  Candidate Dole has it wrong. Education is a national priority that 
requires public effort and commitment to benefit the entire population, 
not just the few.

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