Political Quotes

“I hope we will consider seriously this pending amendment and the implications. To clarify some of the record in terms of statistics that have been thrown about during this debate, there was mention on the floor early today that 63 percent of the American people support vouchers. The exact number is 63 percent support public school vouchers. The implication that this is 63 percent supporting vouchers to private schools is not an accurate figure at all. The national exit polls in November showed by nearly an 80-percent margin Americans prefer investments in public schools to vouchers. The State of California rejected its voucher referendum 71-29. Latinos rejected it by a higher margin, 77-23. Michigan rejected its voucher referendum 69-31. African Americans rejected it by a higher margin, 75-25. The notion that this is a concept that is supported by the American public or that has gone on trial is not the case. Normally, one might ask, what is wrong with a demonstration program, with a budget of multibillions of dollars; why not take $50 million and put it into a demonstration program to determine whether or not something like this works? First of all, I suppose, only in Washington would a person consider $50 million an insignificant amount of money. Particularly when we are trying to get funding for title I and special education and a variety of other needs out there, $50 million may make a significant difference.”