Chris Dodd: “I commend our colleague from New Mexico for offering what I think is about as important an amendment as you can have…”

“I commend our colleague from New Mexico for offering what I think is about as important an amendment as you can have, when it comes to the issue of education. Regrettably, we have abandoned--I hope only temporarily--the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the authorization bill. That bill is only dealt with once every 6 years by the Congress. It is the bedrock piece of legislation that deals with the elementary and secondary educational needs of America's children; the some 50 million who attend our public schools every day of the school year. Of the 55 million or so children who go to elementary and secondary schools, roughly 50 million of them attend a public school. Despite the efforts of the committee of jurisdiction--we spent 2 or 3 days discussing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act--we have now decided we are no longer going to debate that or discuss that issue any longer. I think that is a tragedy when we consider how important to the American public is the issue of education, how important it is to strengthen our schools. Everyone knows so many of them are in desperate need of help. That we cannot find the time--only once every 6 years--to talk about this issue is deplorable. It was through the efforts of my colleague from New Mexico, in fact, that we were able to provide language in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to deal with the issue of accountability in our public schools. I regret this bill has been abandoned.”