Mike Enzi: “I will be opposing Senator Harkin's amendment. I will be supporting Senator Gregg's amendment. Senator Gregg's amendment…”

“I will be opposing Senator Harkin's amendment. I will be supporting Senator Gregg's amendment. Senator Gregg's amendment will actually work us toward achieving the goal of full funding for IDEA. It is not a political statement. We have been having this debate for some time. There hasn't been the kind of progress any of us would like to have on it, but there has been steady progress. There has been more steady progress since this President and Senator Gregg have been working on this issue. During the 8 years President Clinton was in office, the increase in part B funds was $1.4 billion. Under this President--a much shorter time--it has been $3.7 billion. That is reality versus rhetoric. I want to make a few comments about the bill as a whole because we haven't had a chance to actually debate that. I want to point out how bipartisan the reauthorization was that came out of committee, how well people worked on it, worked on it together, resolved differences and made it possible for it to come to the floor and now to pass the floor in a relatively short time, I hope, so we hopefully can have a conference committee and work out any differences with the House and get this legislation into place. This reauthorization is past due. I am pleased the Senate has begun consideration of S. 1248, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2003.”