Editing 79-10-A1 (section)

= Busing Amendment =

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=== Transcript ===
Tomorrow the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a Constitutional
amendment which -- if it becomes law -- would have the effect of putting an end to
mandatory busing of school children for the purpose of achieving racial balance.

Despite opposition by the House leadership and refusal of the key committee
chairman to hold hearings on the proposed amendment by Rep. Ron Mottl of Ohio the
author in late June achieved a rare distinction among his colleagues: he got enough
signatures on a "discharge petition" to force the measure to the floor of the House.

The young Democrat from Cleveland, now in his third term in Congress, had to
do it the hard way. Beginning in his first year, 1975, when Rep. Don Edwards, chairman
of the House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, refused to hold hearings
on the bill, Mottl sought petition signatures from his fellow members. A majority of
the membership -- 218 - is required to put such a petition over the top. That year
Mottl got only 17 names.

In the next Congress he was up to 201 signatures. This time he made it. It
happened about the time Howard Miller, Los Angeles School board president and a champion
of forced busing, was losing a recall election. That fact may have provided something
of a thermometer reading of public sentiment on the issue for the final few signers.

Though proponents of busing fear that the Mottl amendment, if it becomes law,
would bring on an era of renewed discrimination and vastly unequal schools, I wonder.
Many black Americans see a different and insidious kind of prejudice implicit in
forced busing; one that says, in effect, a black student can't learn unless he's between
two white ones. California's Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wilson Riles,
himself black, has been openly critical of forced busing on these grounds.

Rep. Mottl's bill does nothing to prohibit open enrollment, voluntary busing,
magnet schools and other non-compulsory methods for strengthening racial integration.
The bill says, "no student shall be compelled to attend public school other than the
one nearest his residence." In other words, neighborhood schools.

Will the Mottl amendment pass? On June 11 an education bill amendment by Rep.
John Ashbrook, prohibiting federal funds for busing, got 62.7 percent of the vote.
In 1977, a similar measure by Mottl got 58.7 percent. Mottl's allies are encouraged
by the increase. In order to pass, the Mottl amendment will need two-thirds of the
votes of members present. If it does pass, then passes the Senate, it goes through
the ratification process -- three-fourths of the state legislatures must approve it.
That should provide plenty of time for full discussion of sensible alternatives to
an expensive experiment which is becoming increasingly unpopular on all sides. 

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>07/09/[[Radio1979|1979]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[rrpl:public/2024-07/40-656-7386263-014-016-2024.pdf#PAGE=3|Online PDF]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===
* ''Must air on 7-23-79'' according to transcript packet.
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