Todd Rokita

I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed. The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Indiana is recognized for 5 minutes. There was no objection.

I thank the gentlewoman for this amendment. Early childhood care and education, as we all can appreciate, is critical to both children and working parents. This amendment would allow schools and Head Start centers, if they so choose, Mr…

I claim the time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment. The Acting CHAIR (Mr. Hultgren). Without objection, the gentleman from Indiana is recognized for 5 minutes. There was no objection.

I thank the gentlewoman for this amendment, although I must oppose it. It is my understanding that this amendment is unnecessary in the sense that, during the last Congress, the House adopted a nearly identical amendment offered by the…

I thank the gentleman. Mr. Chair, I think this is a good amendment. It clarifies the law on this topic, and I am glad to support it. I thank the gentleman for offering it, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I claim time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the amendment. The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from Indiana is recognized for 5 minutes. There was no objection.

I thank my colleagues for this amendment, although I must oppose it. This amendment adds back specific Federal requirements for paraprofessionals. These provisions place too much emphasis on a teacher's credentials, degrees, and licensing…

I thank the gentleman for his leadership. On behalf of Chairman Kline and myself and other certain members of the committee, I would like to put on the Record that we think this amendment improves the underlying bill. I thank the gentlemen…

Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman, again, for his concern, but I fail to see how this Capitol can do any better a job in solving the problem than the gentleman's State capitol or at the local level. The government that governs best…

We can't be putting parents in the position where their choice is their kids gets an education or they have privacy, they can't have both.

We need parents as participants. We need them involved.

So unless Congress updates FERPA and clarifies what information can be collected, how that information can be used, and if that information can even be shared, student privacy will not be properly protected.

Government is the people's business, and every man, woman, and child becomes a shareholder with the first penny of tax paid.

A free and democratic society requires government transparency and accountability.

This is the issue. It certainly is not stale, and I think leadership demands that we lead on what could be.

Let's trust people, not some government bureaucrat or some utopian searching person who is, yes, well-meaning.

What we are talking about in the comprehensive sense is empowering the individual, trusting the individual.

We are suffering under [the Affordable Care Act], as the majority of the testimony here clearly indicates.

I think the gentleman is exactly right, if the American people show the Senate that the American people care as we know they do. This is still the home of the free. This is still an open republic, and it is still we, the people, who are in…

I would love at this point--I think we all would--to hear them say: We have a better idea, we are going to take it up, and we will show you. I would take that as progress, sir. This is what we have heard: silence.

In Indiana it actually increased voter turnout when we went to that, because people saw that the administrators valued the process enough.

You can roll out of bed and vote, and yet voter turnout doesn't go up, and that is because we have a cultural issue.

I have been saying for years that the problems associated with Florida's election really had nothing to do with secretaries of state or local election officials, but really it was sheriffs of the State that were the problem.

Protecting children has been and must remain a national priority.

I think that regardless of a union contract, if an employer of a union employee wants to give that employee a raise that employer should be able to do that.