Political Quotes

“Madam President, maybe one of the most memorable moments from Secretary DeVos's confirmation hearing was her response to a question I posed to her. I thought I was giving her a softball. I thought I was giving her a very easy question at the end of my 5 minutes when I posed a simple question to her as to whether she thought it was a good thing to have guns in schools. I thought she would give me an answer about how, of course--in listening to teachers and parents, as she claims to have done during her career in education--having more guns in schools was not the right thing in order to protect our kids. Instead, she said yes. In fact, she thought that question should be largely up to the States because of potential ``grizzlies''--the idea that there are some schools that may need guns inside to protect against wild animals. I assume she would probably answer that question differently today, as it has become a butt of jokes. Yet, as it turns out, what we may be learning today is that the Secretary was, indeed, serious. Reports this morning suggest that Secretary DeVos is planning to do the bidding of the firearms industry and put our kids at risk by allowing Federal funds to be used to arm teachers, which is in direct contravention of Federal law. I have offered an amendment that will reiterate what has been the policy of this Congress--not of Congress in general but of this Congress--which is that Federal funds should not be used to arm teachers.…”