Thomas Foley: “I don't know if they agree philosophically on everything we are doing, but they agree there is a serious problem. On…”

“I don't know if they agree philosophically on everything we are doing, but they agree there is a serious problem. On welfare, they know there is a problem. They know it is not working. They know if you spent $5 trillion and the poverty level is higher than it was when the war on poverty was enacted, they know there is a significant difficulty. You were talking about education with the gentleman from Kansas. In Tallahassee, as the gentleman knows, we have a 17-story building designed by I.M. Pei, the internationally renowned architect. That building is as out of character with the landscape of Tallahassee as anything I have seen. It is not about ideas, it is people in that building who have never taught a classroom. That is a fundamental problem with the Department of Education in our State, that people are processing papers about our children. But the results never change for our children. The hands-on experience of the classroom will never get any better if we run it from our capitals of Tallahassee and Washington. What I am hearing from people again is the fact that they feel that this is the greatest Nation on Earth, but they want to have pride in the people they have sent here. They do not want us yelling across the aisle and screaming at a Democrat. As Mr. Dellums said, it is about ideas. I will challenge you on your ideas, on your convictions, on what matters for this Government, but I will not challenge you personally.”