Rand Paul: “I do have a question. Several Senators on the committee have said they would be happy to have meetings 24 hours a day.…”

“I do have a question. Several Senators on the committee have said they would be happy to have meetings 24 hours a day. Why do we not have a hearing on the bill? Why do we not invite teachers, superintendents, and principals? There has been no hearing since the last election. There is no reason why we cannot. The other question we have and we need to answer is: What do we say to the American Association of School Administrators, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Education Association, the National School Boards Association, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals that say: Let's do not get pushed aside in this race against the clock. I am not opposed to much of what is going to happen with the bill. I think No Child Left Behind has many errors and we can fix some of them. What I am opposed to is the process of giving us an 868-page bill yesterday and saying take it or leave it. We need more time to read the bill. We need these organizations that are very interested in education--it is their livelihood--to come in and make comments on this bill. That would be an open-hearing process. Anything else to me is disingenuous.”