Pete Sessions: “I thank Senators Jeffords and Frist and those who have worked so hard on the Ed-Flex bill. This is an outstanding piece…”

“I thank Senators Jeffords and Frist and those who have worked so hard on the Ed-Flex bill. This is an outstanding piece of legislation. It has the support of our Nation's Governors, the National Governors' Association. They strongly support this legislation. Most of the educational leadership in the States and local communities support this type of legislation. My Governor of Alabama, a Democrat, Don Siegelman, supports this legislation. Mr. Ed Richardson, the State superintendent of education in Alabama, supports this legislation. The Ed-Flex bill came out of Labor Committee last year with a 17-1 vote. Democrats and Republicans supported it. Now this year, the President indicates that he will support it and sign this legislation. The strength of it is that it is a clean bill. Basically, what it says is that we learned a lot from the historic welfare reform debate during the 104th Congress. We learned if you give State and local officials some flexibility and the ability to do things differently than the Federal regulations have mandated, they will find ways to be better. They will find ways to do a better job. It is an affirmation of them.”