Political Quotes

“I want to praise President Bush for putting forth an education plan that offered children in failing schools a chance to get a better education. It is too bad that Democrats and supporters of the failing status quo were allowed to gut the legislation, H.R. 1, at the Committee level to remove any chance for failing schools to successfully improve their performance or to let parents have the option to move their children to better schools. I believe that control of education should be retained at the local level. Last year, Illinois high school students led the nation in Advanced Placement scores. With a few exceptions we have good schools in the 8th District and I don't want to force local parents, school boards, and teachers into a one-size fits all approach that might work in New York City or Atlanta but not in Barrington or Wauconda. One of the reasons I support tax relief, including eliminating the marriage tax penalty and doubling the child tax credit, is because it lets 70,000 married couples and families with 125,000 children in the 8th District of Illinois keep $162 million per year in their pockets. That is $162 million per year that families could spend in our district on education if they chose to do so. When we send a dollar to the federal government from Illinois, we only get 73 cents back. In my district, we send more than $2 to Washington and only get a dollar back.”