Political Quotes

“I am a little confused as to where the administration stands on school construction. Back in 1995, we had a rescission of the funding that was already appropriated, and then in the President's 1996 budget he put no money in for any kind of construction. We got out of his language in that budget request, "The construction and renovation of school facilities has traditionally been the responsibility of State and local governments financed primarily by local taxpayers," and now, this is the administration I am quoting, not me, "primarily by local taxpayers. We are opposed to the creation of a new Federal grant program for school construction. No funds are requested for this program in 1996. For the reasons explained above, the administration opposes the creation of a new Federal grant program for school construction." That is the administration doing the talking here. Then, of course, we passed legislation that would have made permanent changes to bond rules, so that State and local governments issuing public school construction bonds could more easily comply with the arbitrage rebate rules. Guess who vetoed that? So it is a little confusing as to where the administration stands on school construction. All schools would be eligible to take advantage of that change in the arbitrage rules, unlike the President's proposal, which is a limited eligibility. We already provide school construction assistance for schools that show a need for additional funds.”