Senate Dems. Walked Away From Low and Moderate Income People at D.C. Mark-Up - July 13, 2006

Norton Says Senate Democrats Walked Away From Low and Moderate Income People at D.C. Mark-Up
July 13, 2006

Washington, DC--Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today commended and thanked Senator Patty Murray for her courage as the only Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee who was willing to offer an amendment today at the full committee mark-up of the D.C. Appropriations bill to counter a provision to allow families in the D.C. school voucher program to earn as much as 300 percent of poverty. Murray had to manage the Homeland Security Appropriations bill on the floor and was unable to find another Democrat to offer the amendment. Murray’s amendment would have struck entirely the new 300 percent of poverty level standard, leaving it at 200 percent maximum. Murray had a second degree amendment, if the first failed, to strike 300 percent and insert the average household income of D.C. families with children. Norton said she did not believe the amendment would have passed, but she thought it was important for Democrats to at least show they differed from Republicans by taking a stand, that certainly would not have hurt them, on assuring that vouchers would remain low income until Congress was willing to relax standards on more vital programs like Head Start and food stamps. Norton said, “It was not too much to ask Democrats to take a stand for the Murray substitute on the core principle in the statute that a private school voucher program should not drop its low income character, particularly when Congress was cutting virtually every low income program. Senate Democratic Appropriations members knew that approving this change would betray basic Democratic principles. One would think that courage was not required because no floor vote was sought, but Democratic members nevertheless went A.W.O.L.” Despite considerable conversations with staff of other Democrats on the Committee, all but Ranking Member Mary Landrieu (D-LA) – the Senate D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member – simply went A.W.O.L. during the mark-up.

Norton said that Democrats appeared to agree with her that hundreds of children would have been left to generate a valid evaluation of the D.C. voucher program even if the maximum 200 percent of poverty standard had been allowed. Nor was there any rebuttal to the showing that the evaluation of the program would be more protected by allowing a modest increase, perhaps to 220 percent, to match the increase Milwaukee allowed after 15 years, rather than 300 percent, which far exceeds any income limit for low income federal programs. The basis for the Murray amendment, which matched a 25 percent increase in the poverty level, was that the program would remain low income; a modest increase was more likely to assure that genuine hardship cases were addressed; federal law bars relaxation for hardship of any kind for millions of low income families who receive comparable education grants, such as Head Start and Pell grants; and even a modest increase will displace some legitimately 185 percent of poverty families.

Norton said that if this provision survives, she is particularly concerned that many families with incomes that match the 300 percent proposal and below will find their children in the same classrooms with subsidized voucher children. The income exception for families already in the study, with incomes up to 300 percent of poverty, would mean $39,600 for a family of two; $49,800 for a family of three; and $60,000 for a family of four, considerably above the statutory low income mandate of the program.