Pete Sessions: “the time has come to end social promotion. The Feinstein-Sessions amendment does that. It does it in a way that allows…”

“the time has come to end social promotion. The Feinstein-Sessions amendment does that. It does it in a way that allows the States to set the standards they believe are appropriate for each level of achievement. We are pouring more and more money every year into education. If we care about those children, if we really are concerned about children, we will find out if they are meeting at least minimum academic standards. If they are not, we will be intervening, in a failing system, and will force the system to deal with them and help them through the process. It gives the States complete freedom to set these standards. President Clinton supported this in the State of the Union message. The people of this country overwhelmingly support it. Over 10 States have already gone to it. My State of Alabama is in the process of going to it. The Republican Party has favored it. Senators Feinstein, Lieberman and Byrd are cosponsors of this amendment. It is time for us to pass it. But we must not pass the Wellstone amendment. It will eliminate the ability to make this system work effectively.”