Jeff Miller: “Mr. Chairman, once again, we have one of these so-called theme amendments. It is an amendment that is not going…”

“Mr. Chairman, once again, we have one of these so-called theme amendments. It is an amendment that is not going anywhere, but it is to try to score some political points to try to show that Republicans are not really the big supporters of this programs, but they are. Well, once again, it is not going to work. It is just like with special ed. Special ed, the Republicans have been the big supporters of the special ed over the years; and since Republicans took control, we have seen the increase for special ed go up much, much faster than when the Democrats controlled it. And once again, under Pell Grants, Members will find Republicans have strongly supported Pell Grants for the past 5 years. Just as this chart shows, back in 1991 and 1992, the maximum Pell Grant was $2,400; then it dropped down to $2,300 for the first 2 years of the Clinton administration. Look what happened since the Republicans took over, we are going up to $3,500 now, Johnny come lately. The Democrats say, hey, we want to even increase it more. They always use this argument, oh, my gosh, tax cuts. Last week we did pass tax cuts and one-third of the Democrats, and I congratulate them, one-third of the Democrats supported it. So I guess they are one-third of the Democrats that was bad. Someone mentioned capital gains. Oh, my gosh, capital gains helps the rich. Capital gains is one reason we have a surplus.”