Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. President. I first thank the Senator from Massachusetts for yielding me time but, more importantly, thank him for his tremendous efforts on the floor of this Senate for the last several days. Hour upon hour, he has been battling to ensure that this education flexibility bill is not simply a blank check to the States but it also has the kind of accountability that will be necessary to ensure that this flexibility will result in improved student performance. In fact, it is a battle the Governors urged us to take up because they are as concerned as anyone else to ensure that this flexibility is accompanied by accountability. He has also taken up the fight on two important issues of unfinished business. Last year, we appropriated significant amounts of money over the next several years to ensure that we could reduce class size by hiring additional teachers. It is now imperative that we authorize that appropriation, that we give a sense of continuity, stability, and assurance to the local communities that this money, this program, will be in place over time. Second, last year we also went a long way toward developing programs to prevent students from dropping out of our schools. Senator Bingaman has been the champion of this program and that is unfinished business that we want to take up.”