Tom Harkin: “I would like to take this opportunity to talk about a bipartisan bill that was recently passed out of the Health…”

“I would like to take this opportunity to talk about a bipartisan bill that was recently passed out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the HELP Committee, which I chair and of which Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming is the ranking member. This bipartisan bill reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and would replace its current iteration, which everyone knows by the title of ``No Child Left Behind.'' I want to start with a few words about the Federal role in education in this country since ESEA is a key part of that role. While it is certainly true education is primarily a State and local function, the Federal Government does play an important role, and a well-educated citizenry is clearly in the national interest. A central Federal role is to ensure all Americans, regardless of race, gender, national origin, religion, or disability, have the same equal opportunity to a good education as any other American citizen. Likewise, the Constitution expressly states that our National Government was formed specifically to ``promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.'' The general welfare, I submit, is greatly in danger when the populace is not adequately educated, and education is critical to liberty. As Frederick Douglass so eloquently noted, education ``means emancipation.…”