J.C. Watts: “I have heard several statements made this morning and I want to make an effort, hopefully, to correct the record and set…”

“I have heard several statements made this morning and I want to make an effort, hopefully, to correct the record and set the record straight. One of the things that I heard earlier in argument concerning this rule was that this legislation would only help so many students, about 2,000 students, and that this is an experiment for D.C. public schools. And the essence of the comments were that why just do it here in D.C.? If we are not going to do it elsewhere, then it is a bad experiment. Well, I would like to note for the record that our former colleague, Floyd Flake, a Democrat from New York, and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Jim Talent) and myself, all three of us offered a scholarship program about, I guess, last October. That was defeated. And that scholarship program would have been nationwide. We were proposing to do the same thing in all 50 States that we are proposing doing here in the District of Columbia this morning. And just for the record, about 90 percent of Republicans supported that and about 95 percent of Democrats voted against it. But there are several other things that I would like to make note for the record. The question was asked, does the scholarship bill not drain D.C. public schools of the resources they desperately need? And the answer to that is an emphatic no. The legislation would not take one dime away from D.C. public schools. It is over and above what money goes to D.C. public schools.”