Burgess Owens: “We need some additional time to discuss it. Why, when the American people have stated that education is one of the…”

“We need some additional time to discuss it. Why, when the American people have stated that education is one of the highest priorities, do we have only 5 hours in the United States Congress to discuss an important education bill? It must be important, if it is the first bill that the majority has seen fit to bring to the floor. Some of us contend that what they are doing should not be done in this fashion; that we should have this particular proposal about flexibility considered at the time of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Assistance Act. They are taking a part of the bill, a part of the funds that go into that bill related to Title I, and proposing that a greater portion of it be used in an experiment which grants greater flexibility to the States and localities as to how they spend the money. They are rushing to do that. Already it is suspect, that kind of action.”