Michael Bennet

I think it's a 10th Amendment issue, right, and I think it's recognizing the rights that States have and the responsibilities that States have.

The bad part of the law was it was a one-size-fits-all.

I think the good part is it brought us--you know, this was 10 years ago. It brought us to a standards-based education system where now we were accountable for every child and we had to have a standardized way of measuring student…

I think requiring having performance targets is really important.

I think that this law, this reauthorization, has kept the good parts of No Child Left Behind.

Thank you Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Shelby for holding this important hearing.

I thank you for the opportunity to testify at today's hearing on the Chimney Rock National Monument Establishment Act.

I am hopeful that the House Natural Resources Committee will see fit to lend similar support to Congressman Tipton's efforts as we move toward enacting this popular legislation into law.

I will in 1 second--anything remotely approaching our claim to be a land of opportunity when 9 out of 100 children born in poverty can graduate with a college degree, when 91 out of 100 children who are unfortunate enough to be born poor…

We've pushed the Iranians to the margins of the financial sector, and we must push them out of business.

These sanctions have put the squeeze on the Iranian regime and made it nearly impossible for Iran work through any internationally recognized banking entity.

Our goal in passing CISADA was clear: to change Iran's cost-benefit analysis and compel the country to alter behavior regarding its nuclear weapons program.

It would seem to me that there is no need for any other evidence than what we saw this week.

I think Secretary Sherman put it exactly right.

We need to do absolutely everything that we can do to make sure that Iran does not support terrorist organizations and that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.

I think that is the apt comparison. It is Iran versus other Middle Eastern countries that are dependent on the exportation of oil for their GDP.

Should they do reform of some kind? Do people here--and I take it from what you just said that you think the 2 percent across-the-board cut would not be the best or most responsible idea.

The world needs the U.S. to be stronger. And we cannot be stronger without a political system in Washington, DC, the core institutions, and on the economy that is the Congress, demonstrating they can solve some problems.

We are hoping that the Super Committee can start to lay the foundations for a corporate tax reform that would make it more compelling economically for corporations to put that money at work in the United States.

A lot of that investment that you are talking about is investments in IT and other things.

We are going to have a very hard time bringing this unemployment rate down.

I wonder if you could give your thoughts on why that is.

My hope, Mr. Chairman, is that we can get past what is a political problem in Washington, DC, and create a path out of the situation that we are in.

In that spirit, I want to ask you, Mr. Holtz-Eakin or any of the panelists, that $4 trillion number sounds large over a 10-year period.

Thank you very much for your excellent testimony.