Political Quotes

“I wish to thank the Senators who have spoken for all of their efforts and thought. A lot of times people think that what is being discussed on the floor is the only thing that is happening in the Congress. There are things happening in the background that are probably achieving more than the debates that happen here. A lot of times what people get to see here is the blood on the floor that results in nothing. But everyone recognizes the importance of education and recognizes that there has been a significant effort made since 1965 with K-12 education. It has been renewed several times. In every single instance, it has been renewed in a very bipartisan way. We want that to continue to happen. The value of the Senate and the House is to have a lot of different opinions on how something can be done and then to bring those together to form something usable in whatever area we are working on. I cannot thank Senators Alexander, Isakson, Burr, and Kirk enough for the work they have done in this area. It does help us to focus, and I am working with Senator Harkin to try to come up with a bipartisan bill. I think we have been making good progress. I have used the nine core components of these bills that Senator Alexander mentioned as reasons for stepping back and taking a look at what we are doing to make sure the States can have as much of a role as possible, but the local people have an even greater role in what is happening in education.…”