Boehner Chokes Up Over D.C. School Vouchers

The Hill reports:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday choked back tears defending his proposal to reinstate the District of Columbia's school voucher program.

Boehner said parents and students value the program, which was cut in 2009, because "they know what it was like before."

"They remember living just blocks from grade schools but feeling miles away from them," he said, as his emotions seemed to build. "And all they did was ask us to have a chance to have the same kind of education that kids down the street were getting. There's no controversial idea here. It's the American way."

Boehner is the lead sponsor on legislation to resume the voucher program, H.R. 471. But he said that, while he is glad to support it, he had "nothing to do with its success."

"For that we can thank the students and parents who have become more than the program's beneficiaries — they are its greatest ambassadors," he said.