Joe Cunningham: “Why is the left against this bill? Because they want big government control for education and they will fight to keep…”

“Why is the left against this bill? Because they want big government control for education and they will fight to keep it. They will do anything to keep those 760 Federal education programs which strangle the dollars going to the classroom. Let us take a look at the D.C. bill. We could have waived Davis-Bacon for construction and saved $26 million, but did the left choose children and schools? No, they chose their union. We had 8 witnesses in a program, and the gentleman from North Carolina talked about block grants, all different programs, all good programs. The gentleman, when we asked which one of those that the other 7 had, they had none. The whole idea of a block grant is where parents and teachers in the community can make the decision, instead of a bureaucrat here in Washington D.C. that does not know your children. The left would fund all 8 programs, have bureaucracies here in Washington D.C. which take money away from the classroom.”