Rick Allen: “I came to this Congress from the Portland City Council, 1 year as mayor and 6 years on the Portland City Council. And…”

“I came to this Congress from the Portland City Council, 1 year as mayor and 6 years on the Portland City Council. And while I was there, I heard from, I think, almost every person in my district about the significance of high property taxes. I have only been here for 9 months, but I will bet that in the course of the debates in this Chamber over the last few years about education, that no one has stood up and said, ``I am for abolishing the Department of Education,'' or, ``I am for cutting funding for Head Start or other education programs,'' and in the same breath said, ``And I will advocate at the local level for an increase in property taxes to support additional education programs.'' I bet that has never happened, because the same people who would say we want the Federal Government out of education would say also that we are not going to support increases in local property taxes to fund education. The fact is that when it comes to 0 to 3, 0 to 6, the Federal Government is the funding agency.”