[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H6077-H6078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            AMERICANS LOSE OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE FOR EDUCATION

  (Mr. FOSSELLA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FOSSELLA. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we got a perfect example and a 
distinction between right and wrong. In days when so many things become 
gray, we saw the President with much fanfare sign the IRS reform bill 
into law; and quietly, in the still of night, he vetoed I think a 
wonderful piece of legislation that would have empowered parents when 
it comes to education.
  The education bill that passed both the House and Senate would have 
allowed parents to save as much as $2,000 a year per child in accounts 
that would earn tax-free interest, to be used for educational expenses 
from kindergarten through college.
  Mr. Speaker, what we have here are two very diametrically opposed 
philosophies, one that believes that parents and local communities are 
the ones to determine what is best for their children when it comes to 
education, and the big bureaucrats, big government, monolithic approach 
that we know what is best here in Washington.
  Sadly, the President vetoed a great opportunity for American parents 
to save more for their children, to improve their education, and 
instead,

[[Page H6078]]

what we have is a defense of the status quo and more of the same.

                          ____________________