Sam Gibbons: “will we ever learn from history? Last year the liberal Democrats said, ``We need to spend more money on education…”

“will we ever learn from history? Last year the liberal Democrats said, ``We need to spend more money on education because it will improve the education of our children.'' And so Congress voted to do so. The year before that, the message was exactly the same: Spend more money. And Congress did. And the year before that, we heard the same arguments: Spend more money, and children will do better in school. And Congress did. And the year before that, the liberals were in full cry demanding that more money be spent on education because that will surely improve student performance. And indeed Congress bowed to those demands. But somehow we have still failed schools, and student performance is as dismal as ever. My question is to the other side: At what point do they conclude that the problem in education is not a question of money? Is the other side utterly incapable of thinking seriously about the question, or will no amount of failure, absolutely no amount of evidence, ever have the slightest impact on their thinking? Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of any thinking time they may have.”