Chris Dodd: “I commend our friend and colleague from Massachusetts for offering this amendment. He mentioned at the close of his…”

“I commend our friend and colleague from Massachusetts for offering this amendment. He mentioned at the close of his remarks how this body in the previous Congress had voted some $16 billion in authorization moneys for title I. That amendment was offered by myself and my colleague from the State of Maine, Senator Collins. We received 79 votes on that amendment, a recorded vote, supporting the $16 billion figure to authorize the title I funds. What we are doing here today with this amendment is merely trying to confirm once again the Senate's commitment in the previous Congress to that dollar amount. My colleague from Massachusetts has laid out the substantive arguments--in fact, even gone back and reminded us of the history of our efforts to try and get additional funding for the critical area of elementary and secondary education. I rise to support this effort and hope once again for the same spirit that imbued this body only a Congress ago, when 79 of us thought this was so important we ought to support the authorization figure of $16 billion.”