John Kerry: “Mr. President, I do not think there is a person in the Senate who does not view education as the single most important…”

“Mr. President, I do not think there is a person in the Senate who does not view education as the single most important domestic priority this year. A number of us have been working for a long period of time to advance the dialog with respect to education. Indeed, a couple of years ago, we Democrats were prepared to move forward on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. We were prevented from doing so because, frankly, our colleagues on the other side, for political reasons, were unwilling to allow President Clinton to be the person who signed a bill that passed education reform in the country. Politics trumped real reform. Politics trumped, once again, the interests of young people in our country. I remember Joe Lieberman, others, and myself talking for hours with Paul Coverdell, our late colleague, with Slade Gorton, and others trying to find the common ground so we could move forward on this critical issue. Here we are this year with Democrats having moved in ways that many people would have argued they never would have moved previously.”