For our colleagues, the information is clear on international testing. The U.S. comes out somewhere between 17th to 19th out of 21 industrialized countries. That is not good enough. That is not good enough for my kids. That is not good…

Let us cut the Secretary a little bit of slack. We know exactly what he is talking about. Relationships. When you go into the workforce today, you recognize that many companies today are talking about participative management; they are…

before my colleague goes there, yeah, the testimony that we had in Florida from that mother was awesome and a sharp contrast to the testimony that we received a couple of years earlier in New York City, where I believe a father came in and…

But this is reinventing government from maybe the Vice President's perspective, I am assuming that this is the position of the administration, this is the longest serving Cabinet member; and this is how they have now reinvented government…

For 7 out of 10 households, the FICA tax, also known as the payroll tax, is the greatest of all taxes that they pay. Yet half of the payroll tax is hidden from the employee's view. Current law requires employers to annually issue all of…

currently a W-2 form does not require the employer's share to be reported, so the W-2 form only lists the employee's share. What this legislation will require is that on the W-2 form, both the employer and the employee's share of the FICA…

U.S. consumers are paying a premium for their prescription drugs. It is wrong. U.S. consumers have no problem paying for the product that they consume. They have no problem paying for the research and development costs that the companies…

Mr. Chairman, when Congress passed the Individuals With Disabilities Act in 1975, the Federal Government made a commitment to pay 40 percent of the special education budget and required States to pay the other 60 percent. The Federal…

Before you go off on this construction program, giving us construction money, let me tell you what we are doing here in Minnesota. We do not build schools. We do lease plans. So if you come up with a construction program for charter…

I, along with three of our other colleagues, had a great hearing in Minnesota today. It really builds on what we have learned. I think today was the 21st State that we have gone to, the 23rd field hearing that we have gone to people at the…

I do not think we have done that. What we have done is we have kind of provided an echo chamber for what people at the local level are demanding. They want their schools back. They know the names of their kids. They know what is best for…

In one of these initial hearings, the deans came in and said, you know, one of the programs that we need more funding for is for remedial education. And we kind of get a startled look on our face, and these are from some prestigious…

For those who may be observing or watching this discussion, not knowing what is PS36, it is a public school. It is Public School 36 that Governor Carlson went to in the Bronx. When we were there, we were not at Public School 36, but…

Again, it was fascinating. The school in Arkansas that gets some of the highest test scores, we asked them the question, Why are you getting such high test scores? Because they were the lowest funded school in the State? The answer was, We…

I think the best example today was we know that most States or many States, I think it is over 30, 33, 35 States, have embarked on a charter school initiative. We have gone around and we have heard and we recognize each State is different…

What we are now taking a look at is we are taking a look at a budget that is not going to steal from Social Security. But perhaps one of the most important things about this budget is that we reinvest in education. We reinvest in education…

Mr. Speaker, the budget passed by this Chamber provides the framework and the foundation for continued prosperity. We know where the Republican priorities are. In 1993, I came to Washington. I came to Washington because I watched the other…

What does a Republican budget mean for our families? Very simply, it means that we start moving towards a debt-free Nation for our children. Now that we have balanced the budget, we will eliminate the $3.6 trillion public debt over the…

Mr. Chairman, I think the most important thing that we compare this budget to the budget that the Republicans have proposed is that the Republicans have proposed a balanced, common sense approach. What will this mean to the average…

Mr. Chairman, what does the Republican budget mean for you and your family? It means a debt-free Nation for our children. In education it means more dollars for our classrooms and more dollars for our children instead of dollars for…

I want to talk tonight about some of the work that we have done in our committee over the last few months, and I chair a subcommittee that has oversight responsibility for the Education Department. It was back in October, October 29, that…

today we are considering very important legislation which will eliminate one of the most unfair tax burdens even placed on Americans and give our senior citizens the freedom to work. The high tax rate on the earnings of older Americans has…

When this bill gets signed by the President, it will in effect be retroactive, a retroactive tax cut for workers for this year. It fits in perfectly. It was 2 weeks ago that we had a hearing in my subcommittee about the shortage of workers…

Again I would like to express my appreciation to my two colleagues for sponsoring it and moving this bill forward. I think the reason we had such a great debate on the floor today is that Members on both sides of the aisle recognized that…

A unanimous vote, bipartisan, all the right characteristics. I think you are going after one of the most unfair things in the tax code. You have identified that. I did nine town meetings last week. In my first town meeting, it is the exact…