Responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 27 decision declaring the Cleveland voucher program constitutional, President George W. Bush commented, “This decision clears the way for other innovative school choice programs, so that no child in America will be left behind.”
Within a few hours of the Court’s announcement, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) introduced a bill to provide at least 8,300 education scholarships to disadvantaged children in the nation’s capital. The bill would provide tuition scholarships of up to $5,000 to students in families with incomes below the poverty line, and scholarships up to $3,750 to families with incomes up to 185 percent of the poverty level.
In 1997, Armey introduced a bill to expand school choice in the nation’s capital. Although the bill passed both the House and Senate, it was vetoed by President Clinton.
