Democrat House Leader Insists No Pressure Applied Over School Funding Bill

The leader of Democrats in the House says his party has given no marching orders to Democrats on a special House committee that has rejected a proposed new funding formula for public schools. Representative Jeff Harris of Columbia notes five Republicans on the committee joined with all nine Democrats to defeat the measure. He denies Democrats have decided to force Republicans to approve the measure on their own. House leadership had hoped to get a few Democrats to vote in favor of the measure to move it to the House floor for debate. Another meeting of the committee could be held tomorrow for the committee to reconsider its vote.