Paul Coverdell: “just to expand on what the Senator from Colorado said, we talked earlier about the 14 million families that would save…”

“just to expand on what the Senator from Colorado said, we talked earlier about the 14 million families that would save up to $12 billion. And those dollars can be used for any educational purpose. As the Senator from Colorado alluded, it can be a computer, it can be a special learning problem that requires special attention, or it can be an afterschool program. I call this money ``smart money.'' What I mean is that this money will ultimately go right to the target of the child's needs. A lot of money in public education can't do that, understandably, with buildings, turning on lights, and paying salaries. But this money will be guided almost like a missile system right to the problem the child has. And it is being guided by those who know best what that problem is--their parents. So the exponential value of this money is much greater than most education dollars can achieve. Mr. President, I would like to take just a few minutes to sort of underscore why education has become the No. 1 issue in our country...”