Richard K. Armey: “Tomorrow we will take up a bill on this floor that would allow $7 million worth of new money introduced in the D.C.…”

“Tomorrow we will take up a bill on this floor that would allow $7 million worth of new money introduced in the D.C. school system for the purpose of providing scholarships to 2,000 low-income families for their children, 2,000 opportunities for a better education for the children of D.C. Today there will be the selection of 1,000 youngsters through a fair and impartial process through private funding sources for these scholarships. When the people of Washington, D.C. found out the announcement of the availability of these scholarships, almost 8,000 people, families, mothers and fathers, applied for these scholarships, because they wanted something better for their children. By the time we finish this awarding today, there will still be almost 7,000 children and their families that will have had that opportunity unrealized. On Thursday, we could make available another 2,000. What distresses me is the tone of the debate in the people who oppose this opportunity for these children. They call it a cruel hoax. They say it is a cruel hoax for us to fight for this opportunity for 2,000 children because the President has already said he would veto it. The hoax is not in fighting for the children. The hoax is in making a big deal about putting people first and then pledging to veto the opportunity for the children out of consideration for the teachers union.”