Romney: FACT CHECK: GOV. HUCKABEE DID PUSH FOR IN-STATE TUITION BREAKS FOR ILLEGALS

Despite His Claims, Gov. Huckabee Supported Special Tuition Breaks For Illegals
"Governor, let me stop you right there because a lot of people have looked at this and I've got the bill right in front of me, and I know that what you're talking about may have been in your original legislation, but you continued to push for a bill after the scholarship provisions were dropped that would simply provide in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants. I've read through it." – ABC News' George Stephanopoulos (ABC's "This Week," 12/2/07)

Gov. Huckabee Has Repeatedly Claimed He Didn't Support Tuition Breaks For Illegals:
On NBC's "Meet The Press" Yesterday, Gov. Huckabee Claimed He Did Not Support Special Tuition Breaks For Illegals. GOV. HUCKABEE: "He said that I supported special breaks for illegal aliens. That's not true, Tim. We supported simply giving children, who had earned a scholarship the same, it never happened, didn't make the legislature." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 12/30/07)

At The CNN, YouTube Debate, Gov. Huckabee Said He Did Not Support Giving Illegals Tuition Breaks. GOV. HUCKABEE: "Ashley, first of all let me just express that you're a little misinformed. We never passed a bill that gave special privileges to the children of illegals to go to college." (CNN/YouTube, Republican Presidential Candidate Debate, St. Petersburg, FL, 11/28/07)

On ABC's This Week, Gov. Huckabee Again Tried To Claim He Didn't Support In-State Tuition Breaks For Illegals. ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: "Excuse me. Let me just stop you right there because that's why you pushed a bill that would allow the children of illegal immigrants, if they went through an Arkansas high school, to get in-state tuition." GOV. HUCKABEE: "Actually it was to qualify for an Academic Challenge Scholarship which was a meritorious scholarship based on their grade point average, their being drug and alcohol free, and their also being in the process of applying for citizenship." (ABC's "This Week," 12/2/07; www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tKnV3_pbVI)

Gov. Huckabee Has Also Repeatedly Claimed That He Only Supported Merit-Based Scholarships:

Gov. Huckabee Claimed, "It Wasn't About Out-Of-State Tuition, It Was An Academic Meritorious Scholarship." GOV. HUCKABEE: "I supported the bill that would have allowed those children who had been in our schools their entire school life, the opportunity to have the same scholarship that their peers had, who had also gone to high school with them and sat in the same classrooms. They couldn't just move in in their senior year and go to college. It wasn't about out-of-state tuition, it was an academic meritorious scholarship, called the Academic Challenge Scholarship." (CNN/YouTube, Republican Presidential Candidate Debate, St. Petersburg, FL, 11/28/07)

Gov. Mike Huckabee Said He Only Supported A Program Where Illegals Were Granted "Scholarship[s]" For Doing "Academically Well." FOX NEWS' BILL HEMMER: "The suggestion in that is that you favor giving children of illegal immigrants tuition breaks." HUCKABEE: "Here's the deal -- he has hit me on that. Mitt Romney has tried to hit me on that. What I supported was the idea that if a student had been in our Arkansas high schools and had done academically well to be able to compete for an academic challenged scholarship which was meritorious then that student should be able to have the same opportunity as anyone else. It wasn't a special break. It was something that a person had earned." (Fox News' "Live," 11/14/07; www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHwTcWHhLaE)

But The Fact Is, Gov. Huckabee Supported A Bill Granting ONLY In-State Tuition Breaks To Illegals:

Gov. Huckabee Proposed Extending Taxpayer-Funded College Scholarships To Illegal Aliens. "Gov. Mike Huckabee is proposing extending eligibility for state-funded college scholarships to illegal aliens who graduate from Arkansas high schools - an idea that several legislators predicted will go nowhere." (Laura Kellams, "Huckabee Plan Would Aid Illegal Aliens," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1/12/05)

Gov. Huckabee Asked Arkansas Legislator Joyce Elliott To Add His Scholarship Proposal To Her Bill Extending In-State Tuition To Illegal Immigrants. "In 2005, Huckabee tried to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for scholarships and in-state college tuition. Joyce Elliott, the former state representative who sponsored the scholarship measure, said she originally had wanted to offer just in-state tuition, but Huckabee's office asked her to add the scholarship provision. 'The notion I got from him is that he believed it was the right thing to do,' said Elliott, a Democrat from Little Rock." (Andrew DeMillo, "Huckabee Adopts New Tone On Immigration," The Associated Press, 12/27/07)

Yet The Scholarship Portion Was Stripped From The Bill:

The Scholarship Portion Of The Bill Was Stripped From The Bill. "Hard-liners, led by state Sen. Jim Holt, R-Springdale, said 'illegal aliens,' as they prefer, have no rights because they're lawbreakers. It may not be fair to single Holt out because he had plenty of company. When House Bill 1525 stalled in a Senate committee, the scholarship portion of the bill was stripped out, sending the measure to the Senate floor, where it failed twice, the final time by only two votes." (Dennis Byrd, "Federal Judge: Illegal Immigrants Qualify For Tuition Breaks," Arkansas News, 7/10/05)

And The Bill That Was Actually Voted On Only Included In-State Tuition Breaks For Illegals. H.B. 1525, "Access To Postsecondary Education Act Of 2005":
www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/bills/2005/public/HB1525.pdf

Gov. Huckabee Fought To Pass The Stripped Bill Which Granted ONLY In-State Tuition Breaks For Illegals. "[The] only bill in the governor's 21-bill legislative package that failed to win legislative approval was a proposal to make the children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges. After passing the House relatively early in the session, the bill faltered in the Senate where it was amended to remove the scholarship provision but fell just short of passage Tuesday and Wednesday. Huckabee said his office worked throughout the day Wednesday for the two Senate votes needed to pass the bill. 'I don't understand the opposition to it, I just honestly don't,' Huckabee said." (Melissa Nelson, "Governor Touts Successful End To Legislative Session," The Associated Press, 4/13/05)

Gov. Huckabee Has Been Misleading On The Issue:

The Washington Post Called Out Gov. Huckabee's Misleading Statements. " In fact, the initial bill he supported did have a scholarship provision. But that provision was later stripped out, and was not included in the legislation that Huckabee continued to push. The bill read: 'Any tuition rate that is granted to residents of Arkansas shall be granted on the same terms to all persons, regardless of immigration status, who have attended a secondary educational institution in Arkansas for at least three (3) years and who have either graduated from an Arkansas high school or received a general education diploma in the state.'" (Michael D. Shear, "Rising in Iowa Polls, Huckabee Now In Crosshairs," The Washington Post, http://blog.washingtonpost.com, Posted 11/15/07)

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos: "You Continued To Push For A Bill After The Scholarship Provisions Were Dropped." STEPHANOPOULOS: "… you pushed a bill that would allow the children of illegal immigrants, if they went through an Arkansas high school, to get in-state tuition." GOV. HUCKABEE: "Actually it was to qualify for an Academic Challenge Scholarship which was a meritorious scholarship based on their grade point average, their being drug and alcohol free, and their also being in the process of applying for citizenship."

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: "Governor, let me stop you right there because a lot of people have looked at this and I've got the bill right in front of me, and I know that what you're talking about may have been in your original legislation, but you continued to push for a bill after the scholarship provisions were dropped that would simply provide in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants. I've read through it." (ABC's "This Week," 12/2/07; www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tKnV3_pbVI)