Burgess Owens: “tomorrow or the next day we will have on the floor the long-awaited H.R. 1, Leave No Child Behind Act, an education bill…”

“tomorrow or the next day we will have on the floor the long-awaited H.R. 1, Leave No Child Behind Act, an education bill initiated by the President shortly after he was sworn in, inaugurated. It is a landmark event. It is a history-making event. We should all look forward to it. It is an example of intensive bipartisan cooperation. It does break new ground, and we should see it as a commencement, a second commencement. Lyndon Johnson began the Federal role in elementary and secondary education more than 40 years ago when he initiated the first Elementary and Secondary Education Assistance Act, primarily designed to help poor school districts, poor children in poor school districts. This is a continuation of that, a reauthorization of it; but I think it has many elements which will move us forward. It has a lot of bipartisan agreement.”