In that poll, there are some surprising numbers. First of all, the overall number says that the vast majority of Americans, Republican or Democrat, Independent, you name it, favor this idea. And 68 percent of all Americans, regardless of…

In 1950 the Federal tax bite was $1 out of every $50. So in 1950, when I was a young boy growing up in Arizona, if my dad earned a hundred dollars, the Federal Government got two of those dollars. He had to send $2 in for every $100 he…

If that is true at the State level, why do we not make America a supermajority Nation for future tax increases? Why not take that principle which has worked at the State level and adopt it at the Federal level, so that we promote further…

John Randolph said, as that quote reads, and I want people to read it with me and think about it, but he said at one point, talking about government and about the power of the Congress, that "It has been said that one of the most delicious…

If the gentleman will yield quickly on that point, there are a lot of people who are my constituents who say Congressman, why just two-thirds? I would rather it was three-fourths or five-sevenths. They want it to be as high a fraction as…

There is no doubt about it. As the gentleman well knows, whenever you come to the floor and propose a constitutional amendment, one of the reticences, one of the resistance factors you face, is that people say we should not tamper with the…

As the gentleman well knows, you can make the argument, and our colleague in the United States Senate who is carrying this makes the argument that it actually does take in the U.S. Senate a two-thirds majority to cut taxes. Because of the…

Not only have there been no attempts to raise taxes in the Arizona legislature since this measure was adopted, at least no broad-based tax increases, and because we wrote the Arizona measure in a very comprehensive fashion, no increase in…

It does not take a two-thirds vote at the Arizona legislature to cut taxes. It takes a two-thirds vote of the Arizona legislature to raise taxes.

Until we amended the Constitution with the 16th amendment. So we did not even contemplate reaching into people's pockets time and time and time again with ever-increasing income taxes to pass that money on to some government program to…

I raise the issue for my constituents on this question as really presenting one direct question: Should Congress be more responsible about spending the hard-earned tax dollars taken from the citizens of this great country? Simple as that…

Well, I have had a number of people engage in debate. In Arizona we debated this measure. The opponents of it predicted dire consequences. They said that this was an irresponsible measure, that we should never have a supermajority…

What would happen is we would be sending a tremendous signal across this country that we are through reaching into the pockets, at least willy-nilly reaching into the pockets of the American taxpayers. Because if three-fourths of the…

this amendment is not about roads. We desperately need roads. My State of Arizona is a growing State and it has great need for roads. But I rise in support of the Spratt amendment. It is a matter of process. This amendment sets the cart…

I urge the rejection of the amendment as being an amendment that would set this legislation so far back as to make it nearly meaningless, and I urge the adoption of the bill as proffered by the committee.

Certainly. To return to my point, Mr. Chairman, I think first of all, it is important for Members to understand that the language of the amendment is already the language of existing law. We have already told agencies to establish a policy…

I want to raise a couple of comments. First of all, my colleague from Colorado is exactly right. It is not that we oppose the ability of people in Arizona or Colorado to compare how our schools are doing with other schools in Michigan or…

That is why I think that America would be in open revolt. There would be an outcry across this country if people understood that that kind of parental control of their local school was about to be stolen away by a one-size-fits-all…

He was flunking out and he is borderline genius in repairing and putting computers back together.

There is no doubt about it. It is a wonderful, feel good math test. My colleague on the other side [Senator Ashcroft] who is fighting this fight against national testing, points out that it is really the rain forest test, because they ask…

Taking this one step further, they accuse us, those who support nationalized testing and support really federalizing this whole issue say that we are anti-education because we support empowering teachers. They say we are anti-education…

He is listed in this book as one of the experts who helped write the test which the Clinton administration will begin to implement next year in America if it can or the year after that if the Congress does not block them.

That test will drive the education agenda in America. The handful of textbook publishers in this country who write our students textbooks will write that national test. Can you imagine the amalgamation of power in this small little…

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell my colleagues that I feel an immense sense of urgency tonight on the topic that we are talking about; that is, education and the whole question of getting money into the classroom, because right now there is a…

I just want to reiterate, for those who may be listening at this point, we are on the verge of a very, very critical decision in this country. I hope people understand how important it is. As Americans, we care about our children's…