Bipartisan group of Senators demand up-or-down vote on D.C. vouchersPress Release | D.C. Parents for School Choice Holiday Hope: Bipartisan Group of U.S. Senators Demand Up-or-Down Vote on D.C. Vouchers Senators Call Elimination of Program the “End of Hope.” WASHINGTON, D.C (December 17, 2009)—A bipartisan coalition of U.S. Senators have demanded that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid allow a bill to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program to receive an up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate. According to a letter signed by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Byrd (D-WV), George Voinovich (R-OH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and John Ensign (R-NV), the OSP has “provided a lifeline to many low-income children in the District of Columbia.” The Senators set a specific deadline for floor time to discuss the OSP: January 31, 2010. In their letter to Leader Reid, the senators lamented the fact that the OSP was eliminated in the 2010 omnibus bill, “which combined several appropriations bills and was considered on the Senate floor under conditions that did not allow for consideration of amendments. This legislation includes language that will ultimately result in the termination of the OSP, and the end of hope for students and families who depend on this program in our Nation’s capital.” D.C. school choice leaders—who have mounted a yearlong campaign to extend the OSP to additional children—cheered the decision. “The time has come for Senators to stand and be counted,” said former D.C. Councilman Kevin P. Chavous. “You either stand with low-income children and support a program that works to provide these children with the best education possible, or you stand with special interests. We support this bipartisan effort to save the OSP and we have not given up hope.” Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, said: “This program is overwhelmingly successful. Students demonstrate increased learning and parental satisfaction is extraordinary. In addition, the OSP is a program that D.C. residents want continued. Our mayor and city council support the program, our public schools chancellor supports the program, and our local and national newspapers have joined together in calling for an extension to the OSP. The time to save the OSP is now.” # # # For more information, visit www.SaveSchoolChoice.com Related: Congress Considers Cutting D.C. School Voucher Program |