It is disheartening when a member of--when a representative of our Government can't say radical Islamic terrorism and at the same time can't make a decision whether Christians are being targeted for genocide.

Are you unable to say radical Islamic terrorism, as our President is unable to say?

Mr. Secretary, the whole world knows that Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East. It's clear.

I happen to believe that our space effort is actually as important as American foreign policy to our future.

I would think that the problem of not being able to accomplish our missions is--can be found right here in the fact that our judgment has been to try to do things we can't do while defunding those things we can do.

There is no one more qualified than Dr. King to lead the Department as it endeavors to fulfill that obligation.

Let's not forget the intent of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act when it was passed in 1965.

Let's be clear that States and localities were given the authority and flexibility but they were not given a waiver.

we need money. And the American people are going to look to us either in the next year or the next 10 years

I want to make sure we robustly support these institutes as we move forward into the future.

I am disappointed that it took numerous requests on our part to provide the committee with a 1-hour briefing on the Bureau that only occurred last week, and we have yet to receive the letter.

I think in this institution, some of us might get concerned, because I don't think the original drafters of the Environmental Protection Agency might have foreseen that they could have stretched and pulled the EPA into the Clean Power…

We are into that big debate now about how big this should be.

I am proud of the role the House Democrats played in producing a new K-12 education law that I believe will fulfill the ESEA's original promise as a fundamental civil rights law.

We do not tell them how to do it, that is local control. If they are not doing it, how do you guarantee they actually get the job done?

We all agree that fulfilling the promise of Every Student Succeeds Act rests on successful implementation that honors Congress' long-standing commitment and intent of the ESEA.

I do think it is reasonable to treat Puerto Rico differently than a State. It is not a State. It is a territory.

I think it is important to note that No Child Left Behind had a cookie cutter response that sometimes worked and sometimes did not.