Burgess Owens: “I have been listening and heard us cover a lot of territory, as is the case with the President's comprehensive program…”

“I have been listening and heard us cover a lot of territory, as is the case with the President's comprehensive program, this little booklet that came out, ``A Call to Action for American Education,'' which ranges all the way from early childhood education to higher education and lifelong learning. That is as it should be. I have served on the Committee on Education, and the name has changed lately, but it has been the education committee, basically, for the 15 years that I have been here. This is a time for great rejoicing among people who care about education, and that includes the overwhelming majority of Americans. Most Americans care about education. Most Americans, every adult American, thinks he or she is an expert on education, too. That is part of the problem and also part of the strength of trying to bring about improvement in our schools. Everybody cares, and I think we ought to hunker down and understand that we have a President that is ready to take a comprehensive approach, he is ready to cover the whole spectrum, and that in covering that spectrum, he has made a quite a number of commitments. I think when we add up the commitments over the next 5 years, we are talking about $50 billion at a time when everybody is afraid of being accused of being a tax-and-spend liberal. The commitment is there for education because it is absolutely necessary.”