Richard K. Armey: “Mr. Speaker, what this legislation does is provide $7 million worth of additional funding to the Washington, D.C. School…”

“Mr. Speaker, what this legislation does is provide $7 million worth of additional funding to the Washington, D.C. School District specifically for the assistance of low-income families in the District, that they might have greater ability within their own family to provide educational opportunities for their children. In the first half of the bill, we make available for 2,000 Washington, D.C. families scholarships for up to $3,200 available by random selection to low-income families in D.C. It is important that we emphasize that these scholarships are available only to lower income families of D.C., so that they may be able with those scholarships to exercise the same choice and discretion over the education of their children as is done regularly in this city by wealthy families. D.C., as my colleagues know, is an interesting city in that while it has some outstanding schools, it has other schools that are in fact tragic failures for the children.”