David Obey: “The fact is that there are many Republicans and many Democrats who want to do right by the children of this country, and…”

“The fact is that there are many Republicans and many Democrats who want to do right by the children of this country, and the fact is if the Committee on Appropriations had been allowed to proceed with its original plans, we would have produced a budget which did, in fact, keep the promises of the No Child Left Behind Act. Instead, however, because of an internal war in the Republican Caucus, the committee has been reduced to going through these motions time and time again. We are being slow walked and slow danced to the end of the session. The leadership desperately wants to get out of town without ever having voted on some of these issues until after the election. We cannot do much about that in the minority except point it out and hope that the people who want action to improve the quality of their schools will understand and hold this Congress accountable, even though this Congress is turning itself into a pretzel trying to avoid accountability on issues as crucial as education.”