On the recordSeptember 16, 2020
I stated in my opening comments, Republicans do not believe in segregation. Segregation was not good for this country. But segregation was settled, we believe, despite what has been said by our colleagues, by Brown v. Board of Education. I find it very interesting that this bill is about a private right of action and, yet, it has become the discussion about segregation and about, again, Secretary DeVos and what she has or has not done. My knowledge of the Secretary is that she has worked all her life to expand opportunities for low-income and minority students. That is what giving choice to those students and those parents is all about-- expanding opportunities for them to choose where to go to school. And we even know that when we expand opportunities and we have school choice, that even the public schools get better. I just read statistics about what is happening in Florida, the largest place for school choice and for scholarships for low income and minority students to choose where they want to go to school. It shows what a great gift that has been to them, and how poorly, unfortunately, the students in the public schools are doing. Consigning students to public schools and not giving them a choice is not a good thing. It is totally unfair. But this bill is about a private right of action, which the Supreme Court has said does not exist in this legislation--the legislation that already exists.…
