David Durenberger: “Mr. President, let me say that this is not the amendment by our colleague from Missouri, but the underlying amendment.…”

“Mr. President, let me say that this is not the amendment by our colleague from Missouri, but the underlying amendment. Let me say I am given to understand there are negotiations going on right now to try to work out certain differences between the majority and the minority. Apropos of the comments by my colleague from Mississippi, let me say, Mr. President, that there is a concern by a lot of us as to the role that this Congress is going to play in the future of elementary and secondary education in this country. I think in my own State of Minnesota, maybe more than any other place in the country, it is pretty clear that there are a couple of different courses that we can follow. One of them is not the course suggested by the junior Senator from Minnesota, my colleague, Senator Wellstone, or my dear friend and colleague from Illinois, Senator Simon. People in Minnesota generally in education have decided that the way in which to improve the quality is by being able to measure the results of elementary and secondary education. I laud the goals that are set out in the amendment of my colleagues from Minnesota and Illinois, but I would have opposed their amendment had it been kept in its original form because it really does go against everything we are trying to do in elementary and secondary education in my State of Minnesota.”