September 29, 1999
McCain Outlines Voucher Program and How to Pay for It
By LESLIE WAYNE
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. -- Sen. John McCain, now a full-fledged candidate for the presidency, called for a school voucher program on Tuesday that he said should be paid for by cutting federal subsidies on oil, gas, ethanol and sugar.
With Charleston Harbor and the USS Yorktown serving as a backdrop to highlight his Vietnam War record, McCain used the occasion to underscore his image as a war hero, and to link for the first time two of the major themes of his campaign, fighting special interests and providing greater school choice.
"Our children deserve the best education that we can make available to them, whether that learning takes place in a public, private or parochial school," McCain told an audience filled with veterans in VFW caps and military metals.
"We will find the necessary money for those most in need, by taking it from those least in need," he added. "We give hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to the producers of ethanol, to oil and gas and sugar manufacturers who are wealthy beyond the dreams of most hard-working Americans. I challenge my opponents to join me in taking the money that we've been giving to the special interests and spend it instead on a child in need."
McCain coupled his attack on subsidies with his long-standing crusade for campaign finance reform. In his mind, reducing the influence of money in politics would reduce the pressure on Congress to finance pet projects of major contributors.
Last summer, McCain introduced a bill to finance school vouchers by cutbacks in the ethanol subsidy program, only to have it defeated in the Senate. On Tuesday, he added oil and gas and sugar subsidies to the list of possible financing sources for school vouchers, a program favored by Republicans.
While McCain's talk was about schools and special interests, the day was also heavy in symbols of the military theme that runs through McCain's campaign -- as a Navy pilot, he was a prisoner of war for five and a half years.
The setting here, the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, highlighted not only his own military history but one that goes back three generations in his family.
The Yorktown was part of the carrier force that was commanded by his grandfather, Adm. John S. McCain, and it also carried a replica on its flight deck of the A-4 "Skyhawk" that McCain was flying when he was shot down in 1967. Men in "Comrades for McCain" T-shirts populated the crowd, while a submarine, a destroyer and a Coast Guard cutter also added to the backdrop. And, as he spoke, a steady parade of military aircraft flew overhead, en route to the nearby airport.
In his speech here, McCain reiterated much of what he said on Monday, when he announced his candidacy in New Hampshire: Calls for higher defense spending, denunciations of economic protectionism, and the need for "broad and deep experience" when making the "life and death decisions" as president to send troops into combat.
And while these themes produced hearty applause from the crowd of 500, the focus of the day was his plan to pay for the voucher program cutting subsidies to the the ethanol, oil and gas and sugar industries. His campaign against ethanol subsidies is one reason he has steered clear of the Iowa straw poll, where much of ethanol is produced, and his attacks on oil and gas interests hit an industry that is a leading contributor to the campaign of Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.
McCain said the "biggest challenge" of paying for a voucher program to allow students to switch to private or parochial schools is doing it while still supporting the public school system. And he believes that the money could be found if campaign finance reform were enacted and subsidies were cut.
"Let's take that money, and instead of using it to pay off campaign contributors with special tax breaks, let's spend it on the children who have been trapped in our worse schools," said McCain. "Let's take that money, and use it to set children free, to give them an educational opportunity that can provide them with a real future."
Still, what many in the crowd said was McCain's uppermost appeal was his status as a war hero and his cry for spending less on high-cost weapons systems and more on enlisted personnel and veterans. The fact that McCain suffered greatly while in prison, yet emerged to become a member of the Senate, was enough for many here to believe that he has the character and leadership to run the nation.
Michael Burkhold, a money manager from Charleston, said, "It's important to me that John McCain is a hero. It's important to me that we dignify the office of the president with a person who has the status of being a hero."
And Will Buddin, a real estate agent from Summerville, S.C., said that he felt McCain's war experiences mean that "he can give leadership back to this country. It's not just giving us economic strength, but for the world to look to us as a power to emulate, not to denigrate."
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
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