Joe Cunningham: “this bill is a monumental bill. My colleagues on the other side, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Clay], and the rest of…”

“this bill is a monumental bill. My colleagues on the other side, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Clay], and the rest of them, and the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Kildee], we worked on this bill when I was chairman of the subcommittee. If we look at the difficulty of getting a bill through, between parent groups and schools, what the committee has done is monumental. On one hand we have parents that are thrust into an environment they never planned on having with a special education child and they are bewildered. On the other side there are the immense costs to the schools. And to bring those two groups together, I applaud both sides of the aisle. I think for the first time we have been able to enhance the amount of dollars and the services available to these children but, at the same time, giving the schools the flexibility that they need to handle the special education needs.”