Gilbert Gutknecht: “It is against the House rules to question the motives of other Members. But in the last several days, we heard our…”

“It is against the House rules to question the motives of other Members. But in the last several days, we heard our Democratic colleagues saying that the reason we want to pass A-Plus accounts is to harm public education. Does anybody really believe that? Eighty-eight percent of America's schoolchildren attend public schools. I went to public schools my entire life. Two of my children graduated from public schools. I believe in public schools. What A-Plus accounts are really about is giving the same kinds of choices to poor families, like those here in Washington DC, that wealthier families have all across America. What is wrong with giving American families, American schoolchildren choices? That is what this is all about. It is about who decides. Some of our Democratic friends wanted to have bigger bureaucracies here in Washington. They want more of the decisions made in Washington. But look at the Washington schools themselves. We are spending over $10,000 per student per year on the schools here in Washington, and they are arguably among the worst schools in the country. What we want to do is allow those parents, whether in Washington, DC, or Baltimore or Minneapolis, to have the same kinds of choices that the wealthy people have.”