Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we may be actually watching Congress at its best; that is to say, that we have managed to, number one, address one of the Nation's most pressing concerns, improving our education system; and, two, we have done it in a very bipartisan method. To that extent, I want to begin by offering congratulations to the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Boehner) for his hard work and also to the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), a Democratic chairman. I think this is a great example of what happens when we work together. We deal with the Nation's business. This is not a perfect product, however; but it certainly is a very good product. The administration, many of my Republican colleagues want to talk about accountability. We need to ensure the students perform and the schools perform. Those are very good things. My State of in Maryland has been a leader on the question of accountability. The additional tests will help us measure whether our students are achieving or whether we are passing them through. But in addition to accountability, we also need resources; and that is why I am very pleased that additional resources are in this bill for title I to help disadvantaged students, also for teacher training and class size reduction.”