Ted Poe: “Saturday was the day that Lanier Middle School students from Houston, Texas, had been looking forward to for a long…”

“Saturday was the day that Lanier Middle School students from Houston, Texas, had been looking forward to for a long time. They were going to get to see where the President of the United States lived. This was even more exciting because it was the first time in 5 years that Lanier had been successful in scheduling a tour of the White House. Then last week, 2 days before they were set to go on their tour, they got the bad news. They were no longer welcome in the people's house. Mr. Speaker, I know one of the parents of the kids at Lanier Middle School. Here's what she said: It's disappointing. But it is particularly disappointing to me because I think it teaches the kids a bad lesson of not keeping your word. I think that's bad for the kids. Harvin Moore, a trustee from the Houston Independent School District, wrote the White House when he got the bad news, and here's what he said: Next week, 80 students from Lanier Middle School will be spending their spring break touring our Nation's capital. They have been planning the trip for a year. They have completed background checks and received confirmation that they would be welcomed to the White House and, as you can imagine, were very excited about that. Now we find ourselves in the position of having to explain to them that their plans have been abruptly canceled and they will not be welcome at the White House after all. Frankly, that's a hard thing to do as we don't understand the reason ourselves.…”