January 31st, 2001
<br />
rep. Ron Paul – Introduction Of The Education Improvement Tax Cut Act<br />
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Education Improvement Tax Cut Act. This act, a companion to my Family Education Freedom Act, takes a further step toward returning control over education resources to private citizens by providing a $3,000 tax credit for donations to scholarship funds to enable low-income children to attend private schools. It also encourages private citizens to devote more of their resources to helping public schools, by providing a $3,000 tax credit for cash or in-kind donations to public schools to support academic or extra curricular programs.
I need not remind my colleagues that education is one of, if not the, top priority of the American people. After all, many members of Congress have proposed education reforms and a great deal of time is spent debating these proposals. However, most of these proposals either expand federal control over education or engage in the pseudo-federalism of block grants. Many proposals that claim to increase local control over education actually extend federal power by holding schools “accountable” to federal bureaucrats and politicians. Of course, schools should be held accountable for their results, but under the United States Constitution, they should be held accountable to parents and school boards not to federal officials. Therefore, I propose we move in a different direction and embrace true federalism by returning control over the education dollar to the American people.
One of the major problems with centralized control over education funding is that spending priorities set by Washington-based Representatives, staffers, and bureaucrats do not necessarily match the needs of individual communities. In fact, it would be a miracle if spending priorities determined by the wishes of certain politically powerful Representatives or the theories of Education Department functionaries match the priorities of every community in a country as large and diverse as America. Block grants do not solve this problem as they simply allow states and localities to choose the means to reach federally-determined ends.
Returning control over the education dollar for tax credits for parents and for other concerned citizens returns control over both the means and ends of education policy to local communities. People in one community may use this credit to purchase computers, while children in another community may, at last, have access to a quality music program because of community leaders who took advantage of the tax credit contained in this bill.
Children in some communities may benefit most from the opportunity to attend private, parochial, or other religious schools. One of the most encouraging trends in education has been the establishment of private scholarship programs. These scholarship funds use voluntary contributions to open the doors of quality private schools to low-income children. By providing a tax credit for donations to these programs, Congress can widen the educational opportunities and increase the quality of education for all children. Furthermore, privately-funded scholarships raise none of the concerns of state entanglement raised by publicly-funded vouchers.
There is no doubt that Americans will always spend generously on education, the question is, “who should control the education dollar–politicians and bureaucrats or the American people?” Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in placing control of education back in the hands of citizens and local communities by sponsoring the Education Improvement Tax Cut Act.
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January 31st, 2001
<br />
rep. Ron Paul – Introduction Of The Family Education Freedom Act<br />
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Family Education Freedom Act, a bill to empower millions of working and middle-class Americans to choose a non-public education for their children, as well as making it easier for parents to actively participate in improving public schools. The Family Education Freedom Act accomplishes it goals by allowing American parents a tax credit of up to $3,000 for the expenses incurred in sending their child to private, public, parochial, other religious school, or for home schooling their children.
The Family Education Freedom Act returns the fundamental principal of a truly free economy to America’s education system: what the great economist Ludwig von Mises called “consumer sovereignty”. Consumer sovereignty simply means consumers decide who succeeds or fails in the market. Businesses that best satisfy consumer demand will be the most successful. Consumer sovereignty is the
means by which the free market maximizes human happiness.
Currently, consumers are less than sovereign in the education “market.” Funding decisions are increasingly controlled by the federal government. Because “he who pays the piper calls the tune,” public, and even private schools, are paying greater attention to the dictates of federal “educrats” while ignoring the wishes of the parents to an ever-greater degree. As such, the lack of consumer sovereignty in education is destroying parental control of education and replacing it with state control.
Loss of control is a key reason why so many of America’s parents express dissatisfaction with the educational system. According to a study by The Polling Company, over 70% of all Americans support education tax credits! This is just one of numerous studies and public opinion polls showing that Americans want Congress to get the federal bureaucracy out of the schoolroom and give parents more control over their children’s education.
Today, Congress can fulfill the wishes of the American people for greater control over their children’s education by simply allowing parents to keep more of their hard-earned money to spend on education rather than force them to send it to Washington to support education programs reflective only of the values and priorities of Congress and the federal bureaucracy.
The $3,000 tax credit will make a better education affordable for millions of parents. Mr. Speaker, many parents who would choose to send their children to private, religious, or parochial schools are unable to afford the tuition, in large part because of the enormous tax burden imposed on the American family by Washington.
The Family Education Freedom Act also benefits parents who choose to send their children to public schools. Parents of children in public schools may use this credit to help improve their local schools by helping finance the purchase of educational tools such as computers or to ensure their local schools can offer enriching extracurricular activities such as music programs. Parents of public school students may also wish to use the credit to pay for special services, such as tutoring, for their children.
Increasing parental control of education is superior to funneling more federal tax dollars, followed by greater federal control, into the schools. According a recent Manhattan Institute study of the effects of state policies promoting parental control over education, a minimal increase in parental control boosts students’ average SAT verbal score by 21 points and students’ SAT math score by 22 points! The Manhattan Institute study also found that increasing parental control of education is the best way to improve student performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) tests.
Clearly, enactment of the Family Education Freedom Act is the best thing this Congress could do to improve public education. furthermore, a greater reliance on parental expenditures rather than government tax dollars will help make the public schools into true community schools that reflect the wishes of parents and the interests of the students.
The Family Education Freedom Act will also aid those parents who choose to educate their children at home. Home schooling has become an increasingly popular, and successful, method of educating children. Home schooled children out-perform their public school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects on nationally standardized achievement exams. Home schooling parents spend thousands of dollars annually, in addition to the wages forgone by the spouse who forgoes outside employment, in order to educate their children in the loving environment of the home.
Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, this bill is about freedom. Parental control of child rearing, especially education, is one of the bulwarks of liberty. No nation can remain free when the state has greater influence over the knowledge and values transmitted to children than the family.
By moving to restore the primacy of parents to education, the Family Education Freedom Act will not only improve America’s education, it will restore a parent’s right to choose how best to educate one’s own child, a fundamental freedom that has been eroded by the increase in federal education expenditures and the corresponding decrease in the ability of parents to provide for their children’s education out of their own pockets. I call on all my colleagues to join me in allowing parents to devote more of their resources to their children’s education and less to feed the wasteful Washington bureaucracy by supporting the Family Education Freedom Act.
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January 31st, 2001
<br />
Rep. Ron Paul – Introduction Of The Teacher Tax Cut Act<br />
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Teacher Tax Cut Act. This bill provides every teacher in America with a $1,000 tax credit, thus raising every teacher’s take-home pay without increasing federal spending. Passage of this bill is a major first step toward treating those who have dedicated their lives to educating America’s children with the respect they deserve. Compared to other professionals teachers are underappreciated and underpaid. This must change if America is to have the finest education system in the world!
Quality education is impossible without quality teaching. If we want to ensure that the teaching profession attracts the very best people possible we must make sure that teachers receive the compensation they deserve. For too long now, we have seen partisan battles and displays of heightened rhetoric about who wants to provide the most assistance to education distract us from our important work of removing government-imposed barriers to educational excellence.
Since America’s teachers are underpaid because they are overtaxed, the best way to raise teacher take-home pay is to reduce their taxes. Simply by raising teacher’s take-home pay via a $1,000 tax credit we can accomplish a number of important things. First, we show a true commitment to education. We also let America’s teachers know that the American people and the Congress respect their work. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, by raising teacher take-home pay, the Teacher Tax Cut Act encourages highly-qualified professionals to enter, and remain in, the teaching profession.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I once again ask my colleagues to put aside partisan bickering and unite around the idea of helping educators by supporting the Teacher Tax Cut Act.
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January 19th, 2001
Washington, D.C. Congressman Ron Paul will serve on the newly created Committee on Financial Services and the powerful Committee on International Relations during the new 107th Congress. The Financial Services committee, which inherits much of the work of the former Banking committee, will have jurisdiction over most banking, finance, and insurance issues. The International Relations committee will continue to oversee foreign relations, foreign trade, military intervention abroad, and United Nations issues. Although Paul no longer will serve on the Education committee, he will continue to introduce measures designed to return control over education to parents and local school districts.
Paul is highly qualified for both committee assignments. His years on the former Banking committee, combined with his extensive knowledge of economics and monetary policy, position him as the leading committee authority on Federal Reserve policies. Paul is well known for his criticisms of inflationary Fed actions and his support for a currency-backed money supply. “I will continue to bring attention to irresponsible Fed activities,” Paul stated.
He also brings tremendous experience and expertise to the International Relations committee. Paul has been active in promoting true free trade among nations, while opposing government-managed trade schemes that threaten national sovereignty. “Free trade is not about government agreements like the WTO, which only serve to protect vested business interests,” Paul said. “True free trade happens without government involvement, and I plan to work for the elimination of trade barriers on the International Relations committee. Texas farmers benefit when tariffs are removed and foreign markets such as China and Cuba are opened to our goods.”
Paul also plans to use his position on the International Relations committee to intensify his opposition to the United Nations. “The U.N. mission has grown too large,” Paul continued. “Our soldiers should not be risking their lives so the U.N. can engage in military adventurism around the world. Furthermore, I will oppose U.N. threats to our national sovereignty, such as the International Criminal Court proposal.”
“I am excited about my new committee assignments,” Paul concluded. “I plan to continue to represent the interests of my constituents in both committees and in the general Congress.”
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January 18th, 2001
Washington, D.C.- Congressman Ron Paul wrote President-elect Bush earlier this week, urging him to enforce new laws designed to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Congress passed legislation in a final 2001 appropriations bill easing restrictions against the reimportaion of prescription drugs, which would permit millions of Americans to enjoy worldwide price competition when purchasing prescriptions. However, Clinton administration officials have refused to implement the new law, brazenly evading their Constitutional duty and substituting their political view for that of the elected legislature.
“The administration’s decision denies million of American consumers the ability to lower their prescription drug bills by purchasing imported pharmaceuticals,” Paul stated in the letter. “Reversing this eleventh-hour decision would send a clear signal that your administration is committed to making prescription drugs more affordable for all Americans.”
The reimportation legislation is needed to address the problem of skyrocketing prescription drug prices in this country. Paul advocates a free-market approach to drug costs, allowing American consumers to enjoy worldwide price competition between local, internet, and mail-order pharmacies. He also promotes reform legislation to reduce FDA regulations which restrict consumer choice and drive costs up. The Prescription Drug Affordability Act, which Paul plans to introduce in the new 107th Congress, will permit any American to import prescription drugs unless the FDA can demonstrate that the drug is adulterated or not approved. The Act also reduces restrictions on internet pharmacies and provides seniors with a tax credit for 80% of their prescription drug costs.
“I urge you to embrace a free-market health care agenda centered around free trade in pharmaceuticals,” Paul’s letter to Bush concluded. “I also urge you to seek innovative ways to deliver low-cost prescription drugs to the public, free of unnecessary government regulation. We must empower Americans with control over health care resources so they can meet their own health care needs.”
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January 17th, 2001
Washington, D.C.- Congressman Ron Paul, acting quickly during the first days of the new Congress, introduced sweeping legislation aimed at eliminating widespread government privacy abuses and curbing identity theft. The Identity Theft Prevention Act (HR 220) will halt the misuse of Social Security numbers by the federal government, while also providing all Americans a fresh start with regard to their own personal and financial privacy. “The federal government is by far the worst violator of our privacy,” Paul stated. “My bill was introduced to reverse the terrible trend toward a government surveillance society.”
More specifically, the Act forbids the use of Social Security numbers by any federal agency other than the Social Security administration. 65 years ago, millions of Americans believed FDR when he assured an anxious nation that “only you and the Social Security administration will ever know your private Social Security number.” Today, the impact of that lie is felt by every American who applies for a job, opens a bank account, obtains a driving license, or even visits their doctor. Thanks to Congress, Social Security numbers now are used by virtually all federal, state, and local governments as a de facto national ID. The worst abuser is the IRS, which illegitimately uses Social Security numbers as a taxpayer ID and requires the registration of infants before parents may claim a dependent deduction! Paul’s legislation will forbid the IRS or any other federal agency from using Social Security numbers for purposes unrelated to the administration of Social Security benefits. The Act also places the same prohibition on state and local governments.
Furthermore, the Act requires the Social Security administration to offer every American a new Social Security number within the next five years. This provision is needed because the government has permitted widespread dissemination of private numbers. Unscrupulous persons easily can obtain a victim’s Social Security number and access bank accounts, obtain credit cards, and assume a false identity. Many Americans have lost their life savings as a result of identity theft, yet the government continues to allow widespread misuse of Social Security numbers. The confidentiality of existing numbers has been destroyed; they are available in far too many government and private databases. A clean slate is required to provide Americans real personal and financial privacy. The new numbers issued by the Social Security administration will be strictly confidential; all accrued retirement benefits will be transferred to the new number.
“It’s time to start over with regard to Social Security numbers in this country,” Paul concluded. “The government has broken its promise of confidentiality, resulting in the steady erosion of personal privacy and the rise in identity theft. The government has no business creating a national ID number for human beings, and the resulting Orwellian abuses have been all too predictable. It’s time to restore privacy by requiring the government to keep Social Security numbers strictly confidential.”
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January 9th, 2001
Washington, D.C. – As one of his first acts in the new 107th Congress, Representative Ron Paul reintroduced the “Social Security Preservation Act” (HR 219), a bill which will protect senior retirement dollars from Congressional raids on the Social Security trust fund. Paul’s bill specifically forbids Congress from spending trust fund dollars for any purpose other than the payment (and administration) of retirement benefits. This reform is badly needed to end the practice of “borrowing” trust fund dollars to spend on other federal programs.
“I believe, and most Americans agree, that no Social Security trust funds should be spent for any purpose other than paying benefits to seniors,” Paul stated. “My bill will ban the use of the trust as a slush fund for pet Congressional and administration spending programs. Billions have been taken from the trust fund over the years, threatening the retirement income of every American counting on a Social Security check in their later years. It is time to end the current government practice of holding IOUs and hoping the money for future benefits will come from future revenues.”
Paul’s measure also requires that excess funds in the Social Security trust must be invested in interest-bearing certificates of deposit, allowing the fund to grow and ensuring the trust surplus cannot be touched by Congress.
An identical bill introduced by Paul in the last Congress received bipartisan support, and he is hopeful that his colleagues and the incoming Bush administration will support his reform legislation. “The Clinton administration took billions from the Social Security trust so they could claim the budget was balanced each year,” Paul concluded. “After 8 years, we still have no legislation in place to protect public retirement funds. I hope that President-elect Bush will keep his promises to our seniors and support this needed legislation.”
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January 3rd, 2001
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Identity Theft Prevention Act. This act protects the American people from government-mandated uniform identifiers which facilitate private crime as well as the abuse of liberty. The major provision of the Identity Theft Prevention Act halts the practice of using the Social Security number as an identifier by requiring the Social Security Administration to issue all Americans new Social Security numbers within five years after the enactment of the bill. These new numbers will be the sole legal property of the recipient and the Social Security Administration shall be forbidden to divulge the numbers for any purposes not related to Social Security Administration. Social Security numbers issued before implementation of this bill shall no longer be considered valid federal identifiers. Of course, the Social Security Administration shall be able to use an individual’s original Social Security number to ensure efficient administration of the Social Security system.
Mr. Speaker, Congress has a moral responsibility to address this problem as it was Congress which transformed the Social Security number into a national identifier. Thanks to Congress, today no American can get a job, open a bank account, get a professional license, or even get a drivers’ license without presenting their Social Security number. So widespread has the use of the Social Security number become that a member of my staff had to produce a Social Security number in order to get a fishing license!
One of the most disturbing abuses of the Social Security number is the congressionally-authorized rule forcing parents to get a Social Security number for their newborn children in order to claim them as dependents. Forcing parents to register their children with the state is more like something out of the nightmares of George Orwell than the dreams of a free republic which inspired this nation’s founders.
Congressionally-mandated use of the Social Security number as an identifier facilitates the horrendous crime of identity theft. Thanks to the Congressionally-mandated use of the Social Security number as an uniform identifier, an unscrupulous person may simply obtain someone’s Social Security number in order to access that person’s bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial assets. Many Americans have lost their life savings and had their credit destroyed as a result of identity theft–yet the federal government continues to encourage such crimes by mandating use of the Social Security number as a uniform ID!
This act also forbids the federal government from creating national ID cards or establishing any identifiers for the purpose of investigating, monitoring, overseeing, or regulating private transactions between American citizens, as well as repealing those sections of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 that require the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a uniform standard health identifier. By putting an end to government-mandated uniform IDs, the Identity Theft Prevention Act will prevent millions of Americans from having their liberty, property and privacy violated by private-and-public sector criminals.
In addition to forbidding the federal government from creating national identifiers, this legislation forbids the federal government from blackmailing states into adopting uniform standard identifiers by withholding federal funds. One of the most onerous practices of Congress is the use of federal funds illegitimately taken from the American people to bribe states into obeying federal dictates.
Mr. Speaker, of all the invasions of privacy proposed in the past decade, perhaps the most onerous is the attempt to assign every American a “unique health identifier”–an identifier which could be used to create a national database containing the medical history of all Americans. As an OB/GYN with more than 30 years in private practice, I know well the importance of preserving the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship. Oftentimes, effective treatment depends on a patient’s ability to place absolute trust in his or her doctor. What will happen to that trust when patients know that any and all information given to their doctor will be placed in a government accessible data base?
Many of my colleagues will claim that the federal government needs these powers to protect against fraud or some other criminal activities. However, monitoring the transactions of every American in order to catch those few who are involved in some sort of illegal activity turns one of the great bulwarks of our liberty, the presumption of innocence, on its head. The federal government has no right to treat all Americans as criminals by spying on their relationship with their doctors, employers, or bankers. In fact, criminal law enforcement is reserved to the state and local governments by the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment.
Other members of Congress will claim that the federal government needs the power to monitor Americans in order to allow the government to operate more efficiently. I would remind my colleagues that in a constitutional republic the people are never asked to sacrifice their liberties to make the job of government officials a little bit easier. We are here to protect the freedom of the American people, not to make privacy invasion more efficient.
Mr. Speaker, while I do not question the sincerity of those members who suggest that Congress can ensure citizens’ rights are protected through legislation restricting access to personal information, the only effective privacy protection is to forbid the federal government from mandating national identifiers. Legislative “privacy protections” are inadequate to protect the liberty of Americans for several reasons. First, it is simply common sense that repealing those federal laws that promote identity theft is more effective in protecting the public than expanding the power of the federal police force. Federal punishment of identity thieves provides cold comfort to those who have suffered financial losses and the destruction of their good reputation as a result of identity theft.
Federal laws are not only ineffective in stopping private criminals, they have not even stopped unscrupulous government officials from accessing personal information. Did laws purporting to restrict the use of personal information stop the well-publicized violation of privacy by IRS officials or the FBI abuses by the Clinton and Nixon administrations?
Second, the federal government has been creating property interests in private information for
Perhaps the most outrageous example of phony privacy protection is the Clinton Administration’s so-called “medical privacy” proposal, which allow medical researchers, certain business interests, and law enforcement officials’ access to health care information, in complete disregard of the Fifth Amendment and the wishes of individual patients! Obviously, “privacy protection” laws have proven greatly inadequate to protect personal information when the government is the one providing or seeking the information.
The primary reason why any action short of the repeal of laws authorizing privacy violations is insufficient is because the federal government lacks constitutional authority to force citizens to adopt a universal identifier for health care, employment, or any other reason. Any federal action that oversteps constitutional limitations violates liberty because it ratifies the principle that the federal government, not the Constitution, is the ultimate judge of its own jurisdiction over the people. The only effective protection of the rights of citizens is for Congress to follow Thomas Jefferson’s advice and “bind (the federal government) down with chains of the Constitution.”
Mr. Speaker, those members who are unpersuaded by the moral and constitutional reasons for embracing the Identity Theft Prevention Act should consider the overwhelming opposition of the American people toward national identifiers. The overwhelming public opposition to the various “Know-Your-Customer” schemes, the attempt to turn drivers’ licenses into National ID cards, the Clinton Administration’s Medical Privacy proposal, as well as the numerous complaints over the ever-growing uses of the Social Security number show that American people want Congress to stop invading their privacy. Congress risks provoking a voter backlash if we fail to halt the growth of the surveillance state.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I once again call on my colleagues to join me in putting an end to the federal government’s unconstitutional use of national identifiers to monitor the actions of private citizens. National identifiers threaten all Americans by exposing them to the threat of identity theft by private criminals and abuse of their liberties by public criminals. In addition, national identifiers are incompatible with a limited, constitutional government. I, therefore, hope my colleagues will join my efforts to protect the freedom of their constituents by supporting the Identity Theft Prevention Act.
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