Thomas Daschle: “It has been said that free schools preserve us as a free Nation. I believe that this education bill will strengthen our…”

“It has been said that free schools preserve us as a free Nation. I believe that this education bill will strengthen our schools, and strengthen our Nation long into the future. Much has happened since we began work on this bill to update Federal elementary and secondary education programs. We were well on our way to reaching a bipartisan consensus on this bill last spring when control of this institution changed. That unprecedented shift could have thrown this effort into the limbo of partisan gridlock. But we continued to move forward and in June, we passed a strong, bipartisan bill. Then came the terrible events of September 11 and, a month after that, the anthrax attacks. Even as we focused on urgent national security concerns, from strengthening airline security to making sure our military has what it needs to dismantle the terrorists' networks, members of the education conference committee continued to work together and iron out differences between the Senate and House versions of this bill. No one deserves more credit for getting this bill done this year than Ted Kennedy, a man who has spent the last 40 years of his life working to make sure that every child in America has the opportunity to go to a good public school.”