Barbara Kennelly: “as I look at this motion to instruct conferees and read down the list, I see what could be a very, very fine bill for us…”

“as I look at this motion to instruct conferees and read down the list, I see what could be a very, very fine bill for us to pass and have the conferees write and that could get a majority on both sides of the aisle. No. 1, created from insistence on the provision of the House bill that provides for indexing of capital gains, this sounds like a sensible idea. However, we cannot afford to do it down the line. Too many people have sacrificed their hard-earned dollars to pay taxes to find out that we finally balanced the budget, and then down the line 5, 6, 7, 8 years from now, that deficit goes right back up. It is not fair, it is not right, and we should not do it. I read down and I see about education. Every one of us in this House can agree that, if this country is going to compete, we have to educate our young people and all people, because jobs are changing. The HOPE scholarship, people like the HOPE scholarship. President Clinton campaigned on the HOPE scholarship. The people liked it so much they returned him to the White House. We should have that. We should have the whole HOPE scholarship, not 50 percent of it, in the bill that is written by the conferees. Include tax benefits for families paying tuition costs for the second 2 years of post-secondary education. Mr. Speaker, this is something I know about.…”