A Nice Political Ring to It

Last February, House Republicans, including John Kline, voted for the largest-ever cut to student loan programs. When the Democrats formally take control of Congress in January, one of their priorities will be to roll back some of these cuts:

The plan to lower interest rates that lenders can charge students is part of a broader Democratic effort to make it easier for students and parents to pay tuition by increasing Pell Grants from $4,050 to $5,100 per year and expanding tax credits, among other things.

When Republicans cut these loan programs, the cuts only passed by a vote of 216-214. Had Kline voted the other way, the vote would have ended up deadlocked and the cuts wouldn't have passed. What does Kline have to say about the Democrats' plan to restore funding?

Minnesota Republican Rep. John Kline, a member of the House education committee, said the Democratic plan to lower interest rates "has a nice political ring to it." But Kline said Congress has to make hard choices on education spending and that the money could be better spent on special education because the federal government has never met its commitment to pay for 40 percent of those costs.

A nice political ring indeed. People of good will may disagree about whether higher education or special education merits priority for funding, but that's not the position Kline took last February. He voted to cut education funding, and the Congressional Record shows that Kline didn't say a word about special education funding from the day the 109th Congress convened to the day he voted for the funding cut.

But then Kline is an expert on saying and doing things with "a nice political ring" and little substance. Like naming post offices, for example:

. . . while the 109th Congress set a record for fewest days spent in session, among the work it did accomplish was passing a resolution renaming the Farmington post office the Hamilton H. Judson Post Office.

In fact, of the 383 pieces of legislation signed into law during the 109th Congress, a fourth of them were bills naming buildings, particularly post offices. Aside from Farmington, the post office in Dennison --- population 166 --- is now officially known as the Albert H. Quie Post Office.

Quie, a former congressman who served a term as Minnesota governor, grew up on a farm a couple of miles from the 30-by-40-foot building that now bears his name.

U.S. Rep. John Kline sponsored the house resolution that renamed the Dennison post office. He also was behind the bill that named the post office in Farmington after Judson.

"A nice political ring to it" should be John Kline's epitaph.