Robert Torricelli: “Mr. President, there is a significant chance that this Senate will one day be remembered for having finally begun to…”

“Mr. President, there is a significant chance that this Senate will one day be remembered for having finally begun to address the problems of educational quality in America. President Clinton in his State of the Union Address challenged this Congress to deal with the problems of school construction, class size, and competence. We are now taking up that challenge, and, indeed, in the last few weeks in dealing with the Coverdell-Torricelli proposal, we also address the problem of access to private schools and the rights of families to save money privately to deal with the costs of public and private education. Today we return to the subject again. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois, as she has on many occasions, is now bringing forward consistently and repeatedly a message to deal with the plight--the construction of our schools. I recognize that in this Senate almost everyone has an idea to deal with the problems of education in America. Almost everyone is right except those who think they have the only idea. This problem is so serious in quality and in access that it will require not just this Senate but Congresses to come, not just this idea but many ideas. The quality of education in this country is the most serious threat to the maintenance of not only social order but our quality of life.”