Political Quotes

“I give a special thank you to those who made possible the adoption of an amendment in this Chamber today that would provide for full funding of IDEA, to meet the longstanding obligation from the Congress for programs throughout the country that are funded in this way. I cannot recall how many Governors' meetings I sat in where one Governor after another--Democrats and Republicans, from one end of the country to another--would say, if the Federal Government would simply meet its obligations under the Individuals With Disabilities Act, if they would only do that, we would be able to meet some of our other needs in our schools--whether the needs are small class sizes, extra learning time, or technology in our classrooms. The Federal obligation is that we would pay 40 percent of the cost of educating these children. Today we provide less than 15 percent of the cost of educating these children. We have taken an important step in the Senate toward meeting that obligation. But it is only one step.”