Political Quotes

“for the last 6 years I have been trying to shepherd legislation of this nature through the Congress of the United States so it could actually become law. As the chairman, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Ford] said, it began with the Governors and former President Bush meeting in Charlottesville, setting six national goals and then trying to figure out how we can help States and local school districts move toward those goals. I probably raised my voice louder on this legislation more often than any other legislation, hammered my fists more often on the table on this legislation than any other because I wanted to make very sure that we did not micromanage State and local education efforts. I am trying the same thing in H.R. 6. It is very difficult to rail against the majority and tell them not to micromanage and then say that when my side of the aisle does it, it is all right. It is not all right on either side. So I tried to make sure that we do not micromanage local and State efforts, I tried to make sure that we do not set equalization formulas from the Federal level on how State and local governments spend their money for education; I tried to make sure there is no national curriculum; I tried to make sure we do not have unfunded mandates; I have tried to make sure that our major interest is what has the child learned, rather than the input effort into the education of that child.”