Paul Coverdell: “again, I am puzzled by the vociferous opposition of the Senator from Massachusetts to an education savings account. I…”

“again, I am puzzled by the vociferous opposition of the Senator from Massachusetts to an education savings account. I repeat what I said a moment ago when I was responding to the Senator from Ohio. The education savings account that we are proposing and talking about today is nothing more than an expansion of the savings account that has already been adopted by the Senate and House and signed by the President last year. Last year, we created an education savings account that allowed a family to save $500 a year, and the interest that was earned would not be taxed if the account was used for the cost of higher education. We have taken the same account--it applies to the same earning level, who can use it and who can't; it is directed to the middle class--the same criteria. There is no change whatsoever. Identical. That savings account can be used by a family to go to Georgetown down the street here or to the University of Georgia. We have said to those same families in America that we all celebrated because they have this $500 savings account for higher education, we are going to say instead of $500, let's allow a family to save up to $2,000 so they can really build up the kitty. We said, why limit it to college when there is so much trouble in kindergarten through high school? Let's let the family use it whenever they need it. They may need it when the child is in sixth grade because of dyslexia or a learning disability.”