Dan Coats: “Today, I join Senator Lieberman, Senator Brownback, Senator Ashcroft, and Senator Gregg in introducing the District of…”

“Today, I join Senator Lieberman, Senator Brownback, Senator Ashcroft, and Senator Gregg in introducing the District of Columbia Student Opportunity Scholarship Act of 1997, also known as the DC SOS Act. The DC SOS Act provides immediate relief to thousands of the District's neediest students who are consigned to failing, violent public schools. This bill is a direct response to the needs of thousands of families in our Capital City who have, for too long, been expected to accept under-performing and often violent schools for their children. The DC SOS Act provides real educational opportunities to almost 4,000 District students. Many of you may remember that a very similar initiative was introduced by former Representative Gunderson, and included in the 1996 D.C. appropriations bill. At that time, a majority of the Senate, 56 Senators in all, were supportive of the idea to provide scholarships to poor students in the District of Columbia. Tragically, that program, which would have benefited 5,000 of our Nation's most needy students, was blocked by the threat of a filibuster.”