Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, those of us in Pennsylvania are very proud of Bill Goodling. I would simply like to add my best wishes to him and my congratulations to him for his long and illustrious career and note in particular with my support and gratitude, his dedication to the concept of local control of education. Every time we try in Congress to deal with educational matters, we can be accused of trying to interfere somehow with the very valid principle of local control of education. I think that Mr. Goodling has always held our feet to the fire as an institution to make sure we did not interfere with that. But he has supported notable legislation, like the Education Flexibility Act, which gives more flexibility locally, while also understanding that the Federal Government has a significant role to play in promoting public schools. I think that Bill Goodling got that balance just about right, and we will remember his leadership on that, and so many other educational issues, after he has left these halls, but certainly not left our memory. We will be grateful to him for many years to come.”