[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 80 (Thursday, June 18, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        SCHOOL CHOICE DENIED FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA'S CHILDREN

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, our President said to D.C. schoolchildren, 
``Tough luck.'' We do not get to hear a liberal say that very often, 
but the President's veto of D.C.'s scholarship bill last month is an 
in-your-face slap at D.C. parents and D.C. children. ``Too bad for 
you'' is the message. Too bad for you, that is, if you happen to be 
poor.
  Just look at the pattern. Failed, dangerous schools, and the liberals 
ask for more money. Congress votes for more money, and in return we get 
failed dangerous schools where almost no learning takes place. And so 
the liberals come back the following year and say, ``Look, the problem 
is the schools need more money.'' And so Congress spends more money, 
more money for everyone knows that the problem is not enough money. 
More failure, more school violence follows, and so the pattern is 
repeated year after year after year.
  The same people who would never one second accept dangerous, 
dysfunctional schools for their own kids are as determined as ever to 
deny school choice to those who do not have a choice. As a former 
teacher it makes me sad.

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