David Obey: “I must confess a certain degree of confusion about this amendment. I always had the impression that good Republicans…”

“I must confess a certain degree of confusion about this amendment. I always had the impression that good Republicans like block grants, and I also had the impression that thoughtful Republicans favor as much local control as possible. And yet this amendment would have us running in the opposite direction. What this amendment would do is it would take the dollars in question out of a program which provides aid to all States in the Union and instead reserve that money for use in just the few States who have bought into the approach that is supported by these two gentlemen. One of my favorite quotations is from Eric Sevareid, who used to be on CBS News a few years ago, and he said, "It is important to maintain the courage of one's doubts in an age of dangerous certainties." And I have to say that I have a lot of doubts about what is the most effective way to teach children. I don't think I have all the answers. I don't think this House has all the answers. So I don't think we ought to be dictating to States what answers they seek in their teacher quality programs. The virtue of the committee approach, as opposed to the approach suggested by the amendment, is that States can use the money in the block grant as it is provided in the committee bill and they can use it for any variety of techniques, including the one that is being promoted by the two gentlemen pushing this amendment.”