Despite support from unusual places--like Ted Kennedy--education vouchers for Katrina victims didn’t make it out of committee in the House., even after it passed unanimously in the Senate. The culprits? House Democrats and four Republicans--Judy Biggert (Ill.); Todd Platts (Pa.); Randy Kuhl (N.Y.); and Bob Inglis (S.C.). Clint Bolick thinks that Biggert, Platts, and Kuhl were "doing the bidding" of the NEA.
Will the proposal be revived in the conference committee? Possible, but doubtful; we apparently have forgotten about all the families displaced by Katrina.
Hat tip: Katie Newmark.
Interesting that Bob Inglis voted no as well. He’s a conservative from the Greenville, SC area. I wonder if he voted against the vouchers because he fears federal involvement in private schools. Is he a tax-credit-for-education proponent? I happen to agree with that line of thinking...that educational choice is a very good thing, but that the federal government won’t be able to resist adding regulations to private schools that take voucher money. Tax credits and EITC credits for very poor families seems a better way to go.