Senate Proceeding on Sep 18th, 2007 :: 1:16:04 to 1:28:36
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Previous speech:

1:15:51 to 1:16:04( Edit History Discussion )

so the idea of putting an earnings testify as high as i've made it so that -- and i read in the paper this morning that the house is going to object to $1 million per year earning test on this program

1:16:04 to 1:16:20( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: -- just do a little finger common sense poll and talk to the american people. do they really think their taxpayer dollars ought to be spent on sending somebody to college whose papers make $1 million

1:16:04 to 1:28:36( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: George Voinovich

1:16:20 to 1:16:43( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: a year? the answer to that is a resounding know. why we would have any resistance, at all, in the house or this body to putting an earnings limit at $1 million? it makes no sense. the second problem

1:16:43 to 1:16:57( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: with this bill is what we have done is, we've discriminated against historically black private nonprofit universities because they're private. spelling college, tuskagee. we will let you go if you are

1:16:57 to 1:17:09( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: from washington, d.c. if you want to go it those but we only give you $2,500. we will not give you $10,000 to to a great historical black college because it is nonprofit. we limit your ability to

1:17:09 to 1:17:24( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: embrace your culture because it happens to be a private nonprofit university. we will say you can only have $2,500 and, by the way, if you have a good reason that you might want to pursue a field

1:17:24 to 1:17:35( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: of study that is not offered at one of the universities, the state public-supported universities but is offered at a private we will discriminate against you again. we will say, we will give you $2,500.

1:17:35 to 1:17:50( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: what we are doing is putting a care rt out there and saying you cannot quite get to the carrot. why would we discriminate between private and nonprivate if a child wants to seek a certain legal

1:17:50 to 1:18:03( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: of education that is not available anywhere except that? if we want opportunity for these kids we ought to give them opportunity. we ought to let the choice be theirs. let them choose to go. if they

1:18:03 to 1:18:20( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: want to go to biosciences, where can they get that? private university. can't get it at a public. if they want to go to some other area that is not available to them in a public fashion through a public

1:18:20 to 1:18:33( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: university, we're going to say, yes, you can, but you get 75% less benefit than everybody else gets because you choose to go into a field of endeavor that may be highly sought after that is not offered

1:18:33 to 1:18:47( Edit History Discussion )

at a public university. so the idea behind the bill is good. the goal of increasing what the chairman and ranking member want to do in terms of d.c. is right. it's right headed. but if we were

1:18:47 to 1:19:01( Edit History Discussion )

really thinking about how to help the most kids, we wouldn't let the first dollar go to parents making $500,000 a year or $300,000 a year. we would let it go to the kids that aren't, this 20% of

1:19:01 to 1:19:20( Edit History Discussion )

the population that lives under the poverty level. that's where we would senator the money -- where we would send the money. but in the namesake of what we have, not allowing the flexibility for

1:19:20 to 1:19:37( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: more impoverished children to get that college education because we just don't want to change. we don't want to allow a young african-american male to go to morehouse college. because we're going to give him

1:19:37 to 1:19:54( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: $7,500 less a year to go there than if he chose some other university. why would we not want to enhance that culture for him? is, i would call up and ask any pending amendments be set aside and call up

1:19:54 to 1:20:05( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: amendment 2888. i ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma proposes an amendment numbered 2888. at the end of the bill, add

1:20:05 to 1:20:18( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: the following "nondiscrimination for private school students." mr. coburn: i ask unanimous consent the pending amendment be -- the reading be dispensed. the presiding officer: without objection,

1:20:18 to 1:20:31( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: so ordered. mr. coburn: this is the amendment that says let's not discriminate against private schools. let the kids go where they want. give them an equal shot at morehouse, as spellman. give them

1:20:31 to 1:20:47( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: an equal shot to go there as well as everywhere else. we have decided you can't. we're going to make you more disadvantaged to go to someplace that is culturally better for you. i ask the reconsideration on

1:20:47 to 1:21:01( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: part of the chairman and the ranking member for this amendment. it makes sense. it's equal. it treats every sought after degree the same. we don't discriminate between private and public. it doesn't

1:21:01 to 1:21:13( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: change the privates out of the of where the restrictions or say every private in america can have it. it says if you are going to say we will hold this out in front of you, here's your education,

1:21:13 to 1:21:30( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: and we're going to give you a fair shot whether you want to go to a private school or a public school that's on the list. we're going to treat you the same. and we're going to hope no matter which you

1:21:30 to 1:21:45( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: go to, that you finish the education and come back and become a productive member to d.c. d that's what it is about. not about expanding the realm of priest universities but saying, if i choose to go to

1:21:45 to 1:21:55( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: morehse state, that i get the same treatment as if i choose to go to oklahoma state or ohio state or the university of hawaii. i get the same treatment. don't take away, don't give me part of an apple.

1:21:55 to 1:22:11( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: give me the whole apple. give me everything. i ask unanimous consent that amendment be set aside and i call up amendment number 2887. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator

1:22:11 to 1:22:26( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: from oklahoma, mr. woe turn, coburn proposes amendment number 2887. mr. coburn: i ask unanimous consent the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. coburn:

1:22:26 to 1:22:40( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: this says if you make $1 million a year we should not pay for your kids to go to college. i'm disappointed to hear the musings from the house saying they will gut this and not accept it. it is amazing

1:22:40 to 1:22:53( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: to me that anybody in this country would think that all of us, collectively, ought to pay for their children's education. if we're going to do that, then let's pay for everybody's education across the country.

1:22:53 to 1:23:14( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: that's not what this bill is about. this bill is about trying to direct funds to those kids who won't have an opportunity for college without these funds. and by giving those funds to the well-to-do

1:23:14 to 1:23:27( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: families who do not need or require our help to send their chin to children to college, there is a limited amount of pie and that $1 million will not be spent on someone living below the poverty

1:23:27 to 1:23:41( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: level wanting to get out and go up. so, my hope is, and i understand the chairman and ranking members' opinion they will accept this amendment and i graciously thank them for that. my hope would be

1:23:41 to 1:24:05( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: that you would hold this as we discuss this with the house. it's ludicrous to take this away from the people what don't have means. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the presiding officer:

1:24:05 to 1:24:27( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: under the previous order, amendment number 2887 is adepartmented.adopted. who yields time? the senator from f ohio. mr. voinovich: the senator from ohio and i have accepted the amendment that limits the participation

1:24:27 to 1:24:41( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: of the people it people in this country at less than $1 million. but what we tried to do when we put this program together was to minimummic what we are minimum -- mimic what we are trying to do

1:24:41 to 1:24:55( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: in states across the country. if my state we do not have an income level that establishes who can participate and who can't. i suspect there are people in ohio that are, have kids at ohio state university

1:24:55 to 1:25:12( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: which is subsidized that may make over $1 million or some that make $350,000 but our state has chosen not to do that as a matter of public policy. i suspect if you go around the country that's the

1:25:12 to 1:25:26( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: case just about everywhere you go. mr. coburn: would the senator yield if a question? mr. voinovich: let me finish and then i'll yield for a question. second of all, in terms of the private colleges,

1:25:26 to 1:25:40( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: we looked at what we do around the country and if you're in the state of ohio and a resident of ohio, we have a special program and that says if you go to a private school you don't get the full

1:25:40 to 1:25:52( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: subsidy you would get if you go to a public scl but we provide the -- school but we provide the private schools up to $2,500 so you can attend a private school. when we put this together we had a

1:25:52 to 1:26:07( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: limitation, same as we have in a state and we took certain areas of virginia and maryland and brought them as part of a state and said, if you go to the university of maryland, if you go to the

1:26:07 to 1:26:21( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: university of virginia, you can participate in this program. but what we realized at the time was that the number of people trying to get into maryland and virginia was so large that it wouldn't

1:26:21 to 1:26:35( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: give these kids the chance they needed to have to get into school so we opened it up to public colleges all over the united states of america. so as senator akaka says, people in hawaii and i am

1:26:35 to 1:26:51( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: sure we have people in pennsylvania, in ohio, oklahoma, all over the place. we are trying to do what a state would do. the or thing that we did which was unusual is that we do know we have historic

1:26:51 to 1:27:16( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: black colleges around the country. we provided a special program that those private colleges, even though they're outside of the region of the district of columbia that the children would be able

1:27:16 to 1:27:28( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: to receive up to $2,500. that, really, lays out why this whole program came together. what the senator from oklahoma is making mention of is that he wants everybody to get the same amount of money. if

1:27:28 to 1:27:38( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: we provide equal funding for private and public colleges as proposed by the amendment we would limit by what by all accounts is a very successful program. the current legal of funding for d.c. t.a.g.

1:27:38 to 1:27:55( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: is about $33.2 million. if the programs were ex-tanned to allow district students attending eligible private colleges to receive grants up it $10,000 funding would have to be increased significantly

1:27:55 to 1:28:08( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: to serve the existing population served by the d.c. t.a.g. as mentioned earlier in the debate the average grant amount per student is $6,500. they dope get the $10,000 but the average of $6,500. and $3,500

1:28:08 to 1:28:21( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: difference would have to be made up. of the 6,400 students enrolled in d.c. t.a.g., 886 attend private colleges. these students are receiving more than -- just about $2 million. if this amendment

1:28:21 to 1:28:36( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: were to pass, funding would have to increase by over $5 million to cover the students or the district would have to reduce the number of students attending public universities by 875 students. it is

1:28:36 to 1:29:16( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Coburn: a matter of money and dividing it up. my guess is that would result in fewer students -- fewer students -- attending college because the pool of available money would shrink. i hope none of my colleagues