Bill Bennett: “I thought on this occasion that it would be appropriate for me to explain why I voted against this bill. I am not sure…”

“I thought on this occasion that it would be appropriate for me to explain why I voted against this bill. I am not sure what I would have done had my vote been decisive, because I recognize that we need to pass an elementary and secondary education bill. We need to move forward on an issue that President Bush has correctly identified as our No. 1 domestic priority. Nonetheless, I was troubled enough by the bill that I voted against it and wanted to make my reasons clear in the hope they might influence the conferees. I have three reasons for voting against this bill. The first one is money. The cost of this bill is twice what it was when the bill hit the floor to begin with. We added money here; we added money there. We had a drunken sailor's attitude toward this situation: Education is wonderful; let's throw money at it. I am troubled by that kind of view with respect to how we should legislate around here. It struck me as being a bit out of control. Secondly, as I heard more and more from the people in Utah who will have to live under this bill, they kept saying to me, This feels an awful lot like a Federal straitjacket. This feels an awful lot like Federal control. This feels an awful lot like we are losing the power to run our own schools. I find that troubling as well.”