[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              VOUCHERS PROVIDE PARENTS WITH A FALSE CHOICE

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, our Republican friends are promoting a plan 
to take taxpayers' dollars out of the public school system and to put 
it into private schools, benefiting the few and the wealthy. The 
majority of the American people oppose this idea for a very good 
reason. This proposal would steal money from the public schools, money 
that could be used to fix leaky roofs or buying new textbooks or 
computers for our kids.
  My Republican colleagues like to use the term ``school choice.'' But 
vouchers provide parents with a false choice. Vouchers do not even come 
close to covering the high cost of tuition at the best private schools, 
making the voucher useless for working families and providing the 
greatest benefit for wealthy families who can already afford the cost 
of that tuition.
  Democrats will oppose Republican efforts to try out this new 
experiment, because our children are not guinea pigs. We are not going 
to experiment with their lives and with their future. I urge my 
colleagues to oppose the Republican voucher plan.

                          ____________________