[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5340]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about education 
savings accounts, also known as education IRAs. These ESAs are the wave 
of the future, as they will give families the tools to help their 
children receive a quality education.
  I am very proud to be a lead cosponsor of H.R. 7, the Education 
Savings and School Excellence Act of 1999. Current law allows only 
parents to put away $500 a year in an ESA. It does not permit funds in 
that account to be used for K through 12 education. H.R. 7 allows 
families to put up to $2,000 a year into an education savings account 
to be used for tuition or school expenses for K through 12 and higher 
education.
  As a parent, I know how hard it is to save money to send children to 
private school or to pay for books and supplies. As a congressman, I 
hear daily how hard it is for my constituents to keep up with the 
rising cost of educating their children.
  This legislation would give parents the tools to help their children 
succeed in school by allowing them to put away money in a tax-free 
account to help defray expensive education costs.
  Mr. Speaker, I am a big proponent of choice. This bill gives parents 
the choice to send their children to the best school possible, public 
or private. It also offers them the choice of buying computer equipment 
or getting access to the Internet.
  I know that opponents of this measure say that we are leaving poor 
students behind in bad schools. This is completely and absolutely 
wrong. I and other cosponsors of this bill support public school 
education, and do not want to take money away from them. This bill 
encourages families to use education savings accounts to supplement a 
student's public education by paying for a high-cost item such as 
computer equipment.
  In fact, studies have shown that 75 percent of all families using 
these accounts will use them to support children in public schools. 
That is why parents of all backgrounds support education savings 
accounts, because it will give students the tools they need to excel in 
the 21st century.
  In my hometown of Chicago, the Catholic Archdiocese has an 
unparalleled record of educating students of all racial and economic 
backgrounds. However, the Archdiocese faces serious economic 
challenges, and Cardinal George of Chicago supports this measure 
because it will allow the Archdiocese to continue to play its part in 
teaching the youth of Chicago.
  He has worked closely with Mayor Daley, because both of them know 
that Chicago's public schools cannot educate the children of Chicago by 
themselves, and it must be a collective group effort. Mayor Daley in 
turn also supports education savings accounts, because he knows it will 
help students get a good education.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, 
to cosponsor H.R. 7 so we can give current and future generations of 
schoolchildren the tools to be the brightest in the 21st century.




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