Pete Sessions: “I thank Senator Judd Gregg for his leadership on this issue. When I came to the Senate some years ago, there was no…”

“I thank Senator Judd Gregg for his leadership on this issue. When I came to the Senate some years ago, there was no greater champion for IDEA funding by the Federal Government or improving IDEA than Senator Gregg. He has maintained that and he continues to be an expert, as my colleagues can tell when they hear him speak about it. We have made tremendous progress since I came to the Senate in funding special education. We have seen the numbers, how much they have increased since 1996, and we will continue to make progress. We have gone from 7 percent of the funding for this education program for our schools around the country to almost 20 percent. We are going to keep on increasing that. The legislation we have before us today, however, unanimously came out of our HELP Committee, of which I am a member. It was a product of a lot of hard work and hours and hours of discussion. There are a number of provisions in the bill that I would like to see improved and strengthened. Maybe some on the other side think it could be improved more, but we hammered out this agreement because we need to move this bill forward. We need to increase funding, once again significantly, for IDEA. We need to give more control and make a better commitment to the practical application of the law.”