Political Quotes

“I will say a word, if I can, in support of Senator Murray's amendment to fully fund No Child Left Behind. In 1995, the Congress passed, with the urging of many Governors, unfunded mandate legislation that said Congress and the Federal Government should not tell the States what to do and then not provide the money to do it. The Federal Government should not be taking money away from States without providing an offsetting amount of revenue for the money taken off the table for the States. If we fail to adequately fund No Child Left Behind, yet at the same time mandate higher performance requirements in classrooms, whether it is in Delaware, Washington, New Hampshire, South Carolina, or in New Mexico, we are putting in place an unfunded mandate. I have been visiting a number of schools in my State over the last couple of weeks. What I have asked is, what have you done with the extra money we have given you as a result of No Child Left Behind? I got some interesting answers. A lot of the money is being invested especially in title I increases, in early childhood. We are seeing some remarkable results. These children who are doomed to fail, instead of going on to failure, have age 3 and age 4 quality prekindergarten programs, and age 5 full-day kindergarten programs, and extra learning time that follows beyond that, and there are remarkable results.”