Lloyd Bentsen: “is it not a little bit ironic that yesterday the House voted to repeal the Federal income tax code and yet today we are…”

“is it not a little bit ironic that yesterday the House voted to repeal the Federal income tax code and yet today we are going to vote on legislation to create yet another loophole in the income tax code. We are kind of going in the wrong direction. My dear colleague from Texas, the majority leader, I think put it best about this legislation when he said, ``If you have the means.'' That is what this is about. This legislation is not going to help middle-class families. It is not going to help families that are struggling, that may be in difficult school districts. It is going to help families that have the means to set aside $2,000 a year which they are going to have to let sit for a while until they get enough income to pay for private schools. This is a band-aid approach to a real problem. The gentleman from New York has an approach to try and address the school problem for a larger number of American students and that is the approach we ought to be taking. This is nothing but a tax break for people who are not asking for it and who do not need it, and we do not even know how we are going to pay for it. I am afraid this is a precursor to what we are going to see with Social Security and everything else, is if you have the means, you are okay but if you do not, you are on your own.”