Thursday, November 10, 2005

Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. Hosts Student Teleconference

Yesterday afternoon, a handful of Nashville college students were firsthand witnesses to the sharp wit and political rhetoric of Democratic congressman, Harold Ford, Jr. The Senate candidate hosted a teleconference during which student reporters fired off questions ranging from issues of partisanship, Iraq, education and TennCare.

According to the survey taken by Global Strategy Group, Ford leads each of his possible Republican opponents for the November 2006 election. Ford leads former 2002 Senate contender Ed Bryant, 38 percent to 37 percent, former 2002 gubernatorial nominee Van Hilleary, 40 percent to 38 percent, and former 1994 Senate candidate Bob Corker, 39 percent to 36 percent. The poll was conducted by national pollster Harrison Hickman using a 1500 person sample and a 2.5 percent margin of error.

Yesterday, while in Washington, D.C., Ford explained that he would vote against a budget reconciliation bill designed to cut spending in order to pay for a $50,000 tax cut. The cost of the deduction, he said, would be $70 million.

When asked for his reasons for voting against the bill, he emphasized that “we’re at war, we need to rebuild the coast, scale down gas prices and avoid making student loans more expensive.”

Last spring, Ford sponsored a bill that would increase funding for kindergarten through twelfth grade character education programs.

“We teach kids in schools everything from how to throw a football to math and science, but we can also agree on what to consider the right, humane thing to do in character education programs,” Ford said.

He then referred to the recent Nashville public school incident during which a 15 year old student shot a principle. He next approached the issue of federal funding for higher education.

“I’m a firm believer that kids in this country should be able to attend college with the government’s help, under one condition — that they give back in the form of service, whether it be through hospitals, the Army or Navy, in the classroom, border enforcement control or in some other way,” Ford said.

The congressman explained that the Republican–supported budget reconciliation package being voted on tomorrow would “make it more expensive for students to take loans out for college.”

“As big a believer as I am of tax cuts, I’m a bigger believer in fairness,” Ford said.

The Congressman served for three terms on the House Education and Workforce Committee before taking a leave of absence to serve on the House Budget Committee. His calls for increased funding and stronger accountability in education helped form the basis for the bipartisan “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2001, according to Ford’s Web site.

When asked about TennCare, he again noted that the budget reconciliation package would make cuts in these kinds of programs, making it tougher for the state to draw on federal funds. He noted that the big problem can be defined in one word — greed — and he claimed that drug companies and doctors are “too cozy” and that there is a way to cut cost without compromising care.

“At the end of the day, our government should be making it easier, not harder, to get a job, get an education and raise your kids,” Ford said.

Via: The Vanderbilt Hustler