G.I. junior

National Review, July 20, 1992

INTRODUCED in the same week that the original G.I. Bill celebrated its 43rd anniversary, the Bush Administration's G.I. Bill for Kids draws on much the same principles. It provides $500 million for a new program to allow middle- and low-income parents up to $1,000 each to help them send their children to the schools of their choice. President Bush's name for the bill reminds us that the state-church objections to supporting those who choose private or religious schools are of recent (not to mention dubious) vintage. As the President pointed out, "If you set the dock back to the creation of that original G.I. Bill, no one told the G.I.s that they couldn't go to SMU or Notre Dame or Yeshiva or Howard."

President Bush has been a strong advocate of this position all along, but in crucial tests (the America 2000 proposal, to name one) the President's men have too often been willing to see choice gutted. Indeed, when Congressman Dick Armey introduced a school-choice amendment recently, he received only lukewarm support from the Administration. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander says that he and his people have been for school choice all along, and that they have only been looking for a way to sell it to the American people. We are happy to take them at their word.

Given the entrenched teacher and bureaucrat interests opposing choice, and their strong links to the Democratic Party (teachers-union members are a dominant bloc at Democratic Conventions), there is no way the G.I. Bill for Kids can be pushed through the Hill without massive presidential support. The Administration must make it clear--and public-- that Mr. Bush will veto any education legislation sent to his desk that does not include his G.I. Bill. The President and his education secretary are off to a good start. How they play it from here will tell us whether they intend to make it to the finish line or just get through the election.