Timothy Roemer: “I would like to first of all thank the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), my Republican colleague who joined with me…”

“I would like to first of all thank the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), my Republican colleague who joined with me in crafting this legislation 8 months ago. The gentleman from Delaware and I have worked very hard in a bipartisan Democrat-Republican way of trying to get this legislation brought before this body, and I am honored that we have it here before the entire 435 Members here this morning. I also want to say that this is bipartisan legislation not only in that a Democrat and Republican have drafted it, but that the President of the United States has indicated to the National Governors' Association that he strongly supports it; that 50 governors, many Democrats and Republicans and independents, all support this legislation. I do want to reflect on the debate about this rule and the 5 hours on this rule. I think what our ranking member the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter) said, using the baseball analogy, is absolutely accurate. We are in the first inning on education here.”