Senator Tom Daschle (d) today announced a relaxing of the laws on grammar. "Good grammar should not be just for the educated", said Daschle, "many underprivileged children speak grammar that would be perfectly fine if not contradicted by current law".

One of the first longstanding laws that would be swept away in the new controversial law is the law on "I" before "E". Under new legislation "I" would continue to come before "E" except after "C" but the law would be waived for workers with only a high school education. Several common street slang words would also be exempted and the "neighbor" and "weigh" exceptions would be lifted for a period of three years.

The cost of the bill would be minimal, said Daschle, and impact on schools would be small with the new laws phased in over a 10 year period. The price tag would be in the printing of hundreds of thousands of new English books containing scores of added pages outlining the new laws.

Daschle blasted Senate Republicans for their attempts to block the legislation, complaining that Republicans were against helping children achieve better grammar. Daschle also expressed hope that the Democrats would take over the Congress this year, saying he expects lower income groups to be the swing vote.