Political Quotes

“Let me again make the point I made last week and will make again this afternoon. There are parts of this bill the Senator from Georgia is offering with which I have no disagreement. However, it seems to me that we are talking about relatively scarce resources. While we are in a surplus--and we all applaud this fact--we all know we don't have all the money we would like to spend in educational areas. But to have a tax break of a $1.2 billion over 5 years, the cumulative benefit, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, would amount to $20.50--$20.50 on average. My amendment would provide a benefit that would go back to our communities where we know from our mayors and county executives how difficult it is for local taxpayers to support the costs of special needs education. In some cases, the cost of a special needs child can be $50,000 or more per year. Now, on average, it is a lot lower, but there are cases that are not that rare, in fact where the costs are very high, that is borne by the local property taxpayers, or the State taxpayers. We made a commitment--the Federal Government--and said: we think you ought to provide an education for all children in this country. We think it is important to educate children with disabilities. I will tell you what we will do, communities and States. If you will support this effort and put up 60 percent of the money, we will put up 40 percent of the money.”