James M. Jeffords: “I would like to again reiterate for my colleagues that the process we are going into was an agreement reached in order…”

“I would like to again reiterate for my colleagues that the process we are going into was an agreement reached in order to move this bill along. This bill, which is known as the Ed-Flex bill, is relatively noncontroversial. I think the only vote in opposition in committee, and may well be in the Chamber, was by Senator Wellstone. But we are in the process to move this bill along, to move it along with the House bill, which I believe was passed, or will be passed today in order to get it into law in time so that States may have a maximum benefit from its passage. It is a bill with which all 50 Governors agree, a bill with which the President agrees, and the Department of Education has been sending the guidelines out for its utilization. However, as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, I must say that we are in the process now of reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. That act is where most of these amendments should be.”