Trey Gowdy: “I want to start by recognizing and thanking my friend and chairman, John Kline from Minnesota, for his leadership not…”

“I want to start by recognizing and thanking my friend and chairman, John Kline from Minnesota, for his leadership not just on this bill, but on the whole jurisdiction of Education and the Workforce. I want to also thank the folks on the staff, Mr. Chairman, of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Mr. Miller, and especially my friend Peter Welch for working with me on this amendment. The underlying bill, Mr. Chairman, as you know, seeks to support innovation in higher education by reenvisioning how regulators and institutions have measured student progress and student aid. This bill, Mr. Chairman, sets up demonstration projects to study the effect of competency-based education. Our amendment, Mr. Chairman, simply permits participation of dual enrollment programs to be included in the demonstration projects created. As the chairman knows, many students--in fact, I am reluctant to cite statistics, but I think it is well north of 1 million students across our great country--have benefited in dual enrollment classes. In fact, Mr. Chairman, I live with a student that has benefited back home in Spartanburg, both at Dorman High School and, I know, Spartanburg High School. Probably other high schools have partnered with institutions of higher learning to prepare, Mr.…”