Heidi Alexander: “we have had a good day on our legislation to fix No Child Left Behind. I thank the Senators for their cooperation. We…”

“we have had a good day on our legislation to fix No Child Left Behind. I thank the Senators for their cooperation. We have worked through most issues. I think it is important to note that in our committee consideration, we considered 58 amendments and adopted 29. So far, we have considered 22 on the floor and adopted--well, we have adopted 22 on the floor. Senator Murray--the ranking member--and I have agreed to another couple of dozen amendments from both sides of the aisle; more of them are Democratic than Republican. We are prepared to recommend them to the Senate for adoption by unanimous consent. There are another two dozen amendments; more of them are Democratic than Republican, including several which are important to the Democratic side--the accountability amendment, for example; the early childhood amendment, for example--which I think deserve a vote. I don't support them, but I think they deserve a vote. We are prepared to recommend that the Senate consider them. If we were to do that, we could finish the bill. We have one remaining issue. It is an impasse over a formula funding question, which State gets more money from title I. That is always very difficult. The disputants are two of the most distinguished Members of the Senate. I am confident that they see the larger picture, which is that most Americans expect us to finish this bill and most Senators would expect us to be able to vote on the nearly 50 amendments that I just described.…”