RURAL EDUCATION XXXX Supported $132 Million in Rural Education Grants. In September 2003, XXXX voted for an amendment would have provided $132 million for rural education grants. The substitute amendment would have provided an additional $137.6 billion in discretionary spending in fiscal 2004 for the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education departments and related agencies. [Vote 326, 9/4/03] VOUCHERS AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS XXXX Voted To Allow Title I Education Funding To Be Used At Private Schools. In March 2013, XXXX voted in favor of Alexander, R-Tenn., amendment no. 515 that would create a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow for legislation related to redirecting Title I education funds for children of low-income families to any school the child attends. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 39-60 (D 0-52; R 39-6; I 0-2). [Vote 63, 3/22/13] XXXX Voted Against Killing Funding for the D.C. Voucher Program. In March 2009, XXXX voted for an amendment to the FY 2009 omnibus spending bill from John Ensign of Nevada to strike the provision that would end funding after the 2009-10 school year for the District voucher program, unless the program was reauthorized by Congress and approved by the District government, which failed 39-58. [CQ Today, 3/10/09; Vote 94, 3/10/09] XXXX Voted to Create First Federally-Backed Voucher Program. In 2003, XXXX voted for the FY04 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which created the first federally funded school voucher program in Washington D.C. schools. [Vote 3, 1/22/04] XXXX Supported Spending Federal Money on Private Schools. In 2001, XXXX voted against making it illegal for parents to spend any of the money they have saved in Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) on tuition or room and board at any private elementary or secondary education school. The vote was on an amendment to the Tax Relief Act of 2001. [HR 1836, Vote 136, 5/22/01] XXXX Voted for School Vouchers to Use Federal Money for Private Schools. On a vote of 41-58, the Senate rejected Bush’s voucher proposal to establish 10 pilot programs to test the idea of vouchers. The Bush plan, which has been tested and failed before, would allow parents of kids who attend under performing public schools to use federal money to pay for private school tuition. [S 1, Vote 179, 6/11/01,; NEA, School Vouchers: The Emerging Track Record”; LA Times, 6/13/01] XXXX Voted for School Vouchers. In 1998, XXXX voted for the Coverdell amendment to S.1415, which was an amendment to authorize $16 billion over five years from the bill’s tobacco revenues for drug prevention efforts, increase funding for the border patrol, increase funding for anti-drug trafficking efforts by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, allow federal funds to be spent on school vouchers for public school children who have been victims of violent crimes on school property, ban federal funding for needle-exchange programs, and encourage states to establish voluntary drug testing programs for all first-time individuals seeking a driver’s license. [Vote 151, 6/9/98] XXXX Voted for Private Vouchers. In 1998, XXXX voted for passage of a bill to expand tax-free educational savings accounts for public and private education, increasing the maximum annual contribution to these accounts that in part subsidize private education with public dollars. [Vote 102, 4/23/98] XXXX Supported a Measure Creating School Vouchers for Low-Income D.C. Students. In 1997, XXXX voted to cloture debate on an amendment to the District of Columbia FY ‘98 Appropriations by Sens. Coats and Lieberman that would have authorized and funded a new program to provide school vouchers for children in the District of Columbia public schools whose family incomes were at or below 185 percent of the poverty level. Those scholarships could be used to pay to attend public or private schools in the District or in adjacent counties in Maryland and Virginia. [Vote 260, 9/30/97] 63