Sam Farr: “This debate is really a debate about our Nation's future. This morning in this hall we opened the session with a pledge…”

“This debate is really a debate about our Nation's future. This morning in this hall we opened the session with a pledge of allegiance in which we pledged to be one Nation. But what is that debate? What does it mean when we want to be one Nation? Well, one Nation is about national priorities and to have priorities we must make priorities. This Nation has found it important to have national standards for aviation, obviously for food safety, and even for truck tires, but we have never made it a national priority for education. There are no national standards. Think about that. High school standards are set by local communities and State legislatures. College boards exams are a private industry, not regulated by government. Everyone knows that tests are essential to function in our society. We require them for everything from driving a car to entering the Armed Services. This bill is the wrong way to go because we ought to have our national priorities be as important to us in education as they are for entering the military or driving a car. And we will never be one Nation unless we put education at that high priority. And when we do, we truly will be one Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.”