Timothy Roemer: “I just respond to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) by saying this: The first bill that he mentioned, the…”

“I just respond to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) by saying this: The first bill that he mentioned, the Education Flexibility Act, was a bill that I authored with the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), a Republican; and we worked across the aisle to pass that bill. It was signed into law by the President. It was one of the few that the gentleman from Colorado mentioned that has been signed into law. It is one thing to be able to say we passed this in this body, it is another thing to be able to say we mustered the bipartisanship in the Senate or we were able to persuade or convince the President to be with us on the issue; and generally he is with us on many of these education issues. The gentleman from Colorado mentioned a host of resolutions that do not have the force of law. The gentleman mentioned the TEA act, the Teacher Empowerment Act, that tries to provide more opportunities for our teachers to get into the teaching profession in new ways. I supported that piece of legislation. That is not law.”