Political Quotes

“I say to Senator Kennedy, thank you very much not only for yielding to me, but also for your great leadership on this important issue of education. I want to just bring us up to date on where we are, at least where I think we are. At 1 o'clock we are going to have a vote to basically allow us to take up the issue of the 100,000 new teachers in the classroom that Senator Murray has worked so hard on, and Senator Kennedy and others. Certainly, the President puts this as a priority in his budget. Where we are now is, if we do not vote to do that, this bill is effectively shut down. Ed-Flex alone--and it is a good bill-- turns its back on all the other education needs my colleagues have discussed. The Senator from Vermont keeps offering an amendment on IDEA to fund it; and he is right, and I am ready to vote for that. Why does he block my chance to vote on afterschool? Why does he block my chance to vote on 100,000 teachers? Why does he block my chance to vote on dropouts? I will support him in his desire to fund IDEA. He is right on that point, but he is wrong to go along with the strategy which blocks us from voting on issues of such importance to America's families. I want to share a couple of charts in my remaining few minutes with everyone. Here you see children involved in afterschool activities. We want a chance to offer our afterschool amendment which would open up afterschool to a million children. Look at the look on the faces of these children.…”