Vernon Ehlers: “last evening we had a chance, once again, to demonstrate that one of the top issues, if not the top issue, of the…”

“last evening we had a chance, once again, to demonstrate that one of the top issues, if not the top issue, of the Republicans is education. We were in this Chamber debating an excellent bill proposed by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Goodling) of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. He served for many years as a teacher, then principal, then superintendent; and he has put his knowledge to good use in his work here as chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. This bill will improve reading training of children, but above all, through a stroke of genius, he has also included provisions that parents will receive training in reading if they are illiterate. Mr. Speaker, in my years of education, I discovered that the single greatest factor in the success of the student is an interested and involved parent. But if the parent cannot read, how do we expect the child to learn how to read? The bill of the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) will ensure that both will happen, and it also builds into it accountability to make certain that the government's money is not wasted. This bill does much more than just that, but I wanted to highlight this issue. I encourage all of my colleagues to vote yes on this excellent piece of education legislation.”