Byron Dorgan: “I don't disagree at all with the data. I did not talk about Clinton versus Bush and so on. I didn't make that reference.…”

“I don't disagree at all with the data. I did not talk about Clinton versus Bush and so on. I didn't make that reference. The circumstances are dramatically different than they were previously. We embarked on a new, different, aggressive education policy called No Child Left Behind in which we imposed for the first time significant enforceable standards in order to measure accountability. That was my point. I like the work the Senator from Pennsylvania does. He and I have worked on a lot of things together. Notably, I was one who, along with the Senators from Pennsylvania and Iowa and others, worked to try to double the amount of funding in the National Institutes of Health, and the dividends that will pay for the American people in the future are significant. I like the work the leadership of this subcommittee does, the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from Iowa. I appreciate working with them. He indicated this is the best we can do on funding. He would probably wish to do more. I think I heard him suggest that. I sit back and try to figure out what are our priorities as a country.”