[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 5 (Tuesday, February 3, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H103-H104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRESS SHOULD NOT SAY ``NO'' TO THE STUDENTS OF THE DISTRICT OF 
                                COLUMBIA

  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that I will take my whole 5 
minutes, but I do have a few things that I would like to point out.
  Washington, D.C., has some very, very good schools, has some 
exceptionally good public schools, and it has some exceptionally good 
private schools. Unfortunately, the city also has some exceptionally 
bad schools where we have too many young children that are caught in 
circumstances that would almost say they have no opportunity for 
anything but failure.
  Those of us that have met these children have understood what one 
always understands when one meets a child: This is a very, very special 
and precious person. We have seen too many cases of children that have 
the ability, that have the energy, that have the hopes and the dreams 
that are coupled with the same on the part of their parents and 
punctuated with prayers for a better opportunity for this child, for us 
to turn our back on these children.
  Mr. Speaker, we will bring to consideration for this body again a 
bill that would allow scholarships for choice for those families that 
are disadvantaged so they, like so many more wealthy families, 
particularly here in D.C. and across the country, could exercise their 
opportunity to take their child out of a school that is failing that 
child and move that child to a school where the child will have their 
hopes and dreams and abilities recognized and nourished.
  We have people that oppose this. They oppose it for ideological 
reasons; they oppose it for institutional reasons; they oppose it for 
reasons that, quite frankly, I do not understand.
  One prominent Senator said, ``D.C. parents and ministers and local 
leaders have made it clear that they do not want vouchers.'' Another 
prominent Member of this body made the point, ``I think I can say with 
confidence that the people I represent would deeply resent the 
imposition of vouchers.'' That was the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia (Ms. Norton). ``I think I can say with confidence that the 
people I represent would deeply resent the imposition of vouchers.''
  What is a voucher? We say to people, we make available to you the 
opportunity. You can choose or you cannot choose to accept that 
opportunity for your child.
  On October 13, 1997, the Washington Scholarship Fund announced the 
availability of 1,000 new scholarships for children that are 
disadvantaged by being stuck in failing schools. By the deadline last 
Saturday, 7,573 children applied. One out of every six children 
eligible for these scholarships applied.
  Mr. Speaker, D.C. parents are making the effort.
  Let me talk about this a moment. I have had the opportunity to work 
with the D.C. Scholarship Fund. I have met these parents. I have met 
these children. I have seen those that have already had the 
scholarships that have moved to the other schools. I have seen them 
brighten up and seen them do better. I have seen children that might 
have been stuck forever with failure emerge and shine.
  What child is not precious enough that they ought to have this 
opportunity? How can somebody's heart be so cold as to say we deny 
that?
  This is not taking money away from the other D.C. schools. The 
voucher program that we are putting forward says we will add additional 
money beyond that which is already available to the City of D.C., which 
has, if not the highest, certainly the second or third highest per 
capita student budget for their school system of any city in the 
Nation. And yet, with all that they already have, we have children that 
are not being well served by the schools; and we are saying, in 
addition to that money, let us put some more vouchers in place for 
these little children.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a little thing in Washington. The numbers here 
are very big. The President has got a $1.73 trillion budget. He has got 
all kinds of things in that budget, all full of good intentions. Big 
heart. Something for everyone.
  We are saying drive off these Capitol grounds two blocks, three 
blocks. See the children that do not have the opportunity that children 
in my district in Texas have to walk to school safe in neighborhoods 
that are safe; to be with

[[Page H104]]

friends in school and to be proud of their school; to learn and 
understand and be appreciated and, yes, on occasions, disciplined so 
that they can successfully learn.
  Then I ask my colleagues to tell me if they meet these children, they 
meet these parents, they see these opportunities, that they can have a 
heart that is so closed, cold, and a mind that is so closed, a 
dedication to a union so strong or a perversion of priority so cruel 
that they will say ``no'' to these children.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot do it. And it is not just because I have met 
the children. I do not think anybody can do that. And I have to say I 
deeply regret the callous expressions of sentiment that I read from the 
two Members of Congress whose quotes I opened this discussion with. I 
hope that something will touch their heart for these children.

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