[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 50 (Wednesday, April 29, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   VOUCHERS FOR D.C. SCHOOL CHILDREN

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we will take up a bill on this floor 
that would allow $7 million worth of new money introduced in the D.C. 
school system for the purpose of providing scholarships to 2,000 low-
income families for their children, 2,000 opportunities for a better 
education for the children of D.C. Today there will be the selection of 
1,000 youngsters through a fair and impartial process through private 
funding sources for these scholarships.
  When the people of Washington, D.C. found out the announcement of the 
availability of these scholarships, almost 8,000 people, families, 
mothers and fathers, applied for these scholarships, because they 
wanted something better for their children. By the time we finish this 
awarding today, there will still be almost 7,000 children and their 
families that will have had that opportunity unrealized. On Thursday, 
we could make available another 2,000.
  What distresses me is the tone of the debate in the people who oppose 
this opportunity for these children. They call it a cruel hoax. They 
say it is a cruel hoax for us to fight for this opportunity for 2,000 
children because the President has already said he would veto it. The 
hoax is not in fighting for the children. The hoax is in making a big 
deal about putting people first and then pledging to veto the 
opportunity for the children out of consideration for the teachers 
union.
  There is a cruel hoax going on, ladies and gentlemen, but it is not 
in the children, it is not in their parents, it is not in all those 
kind, generous people that have provided private funding for these 
little boys and girls. It is in those people who pretend they are for 
the kids, wrap their politics of greed in the language of love, and 
then betray the kids with a veto pen.

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