Political Quotes

“I am very disappointed that I have to stand on this side of the House of Representatives to talk on behalf of this voucher bill. I first became interested in choice vouchers, scholarships, whatever we want to call them, back in 1979, when I became the chairman of the education committee in the Chicago City Council. At that time, a number of minority aldermen came to my meeting that I was having on education, and they are the ones that brought choice to my attention. Since that time, it is something I have been very much supportive of. Over the course of the 15 years that I have been in the United States House of Representatives, there are several bills that have I put in dealing with voucher choice programs. Unfortunately, they never went anyplace. So today I find myself on the other side of the aisle speaking on behalf of a program I do support. And I support it because there are two other locations in this country where this type of program is going on. One is in Cleveland; one is in Milwaukee. In both of those communities, choice has improved, the reading level, the math level of the students in the choice voucher program. The program that is going to be established here in Washington, D.C., is a small program, but I believe it is a step in the right direction for these students. I think choice is not going to do away with the public school system.”