Barbara Kennelly: “what the ranking member just said is the reason I rise in support of the motion to instruct. As this bill stands right…”

“what the ranking member just said is the reason I rise in support of the motion to instruct. As this bill stands right now, it becomes an empty gesture because the President has already said he will veto it. So, Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues really want to do something about the state of education in America today, they will vote for the motion to instruct. The President has a very good reason why he is vetoing this bill: because it will spend virtually billions of dollars and end up not doing anything. The Joint Committee on Taxation tells us that if the provisions were converted to a tax credit for all taxpayers with children to qualify for educational expenses, the credit would be $15 per child. Mr. Speaker, that is 15 hard-earned honest dollars, but we really know that that is not going to make much of a difference in the education of a child in today's world. The same money could be used to provide $7.2 billion in interest-free funds for school construction. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today because my State of Connecticut desperately needs school construction money, so I urge my colleagues to support this motion to instruct and get on with doing what we have to do to make education better in these United States.”