Every Child Achieves Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Finally, Mr. President, turning to the business currently before the Senate, the bipartisan education debate we are having in the new Senate is good for our country and it was long overdue.
For too long, bureaucrats in Washington tried to dictate top-down, one-size-fits-all education policies to millions of students and families across our country. It was hurting our kids, and it needed to change. So a new Senate that is back to work for the American people decided to work together to do something about it. We thought it was past time to place more education decisionmaking power where it truly belongs--with parents, with teachers, with States, and with school boards, not with a distant Federal bureaucracy.
The pundits said Washington could never address these challenges, but the bipartisan Every Child Achieves Act actually received unanimous support from every Democrat and every Republican in committee. Just think about that for a moment. It is an impressive achievement, and it wouldn't have been possible without a functioning Senate and a lot of dedication and determination from the bill's primary sponsors, the Republican Senator from Tennessee and the Democratic Senator from Washington.
This debate may be years overdue, but Republicans and Democrats are certainly having their voices heard today. They are working across the aisle, they are representing the views of their constituents, and they are offering amendments. The new Senate has processed over two dozen amendments to this bill already, and we have adopted quite a few of them. In fact, we have now taken more rollcall amendment votes this year in the new Congress than throughout the entirety of the last Congress combined. That is an achievement both parties can celebrate. It represents progress for our country. And this afternoon we have a chance to make more because, with cooperation from our friends across the aisle, we can continue to advance the Every Child Achieves Act later today and set up final passage soon. That would mean another bipartisan achievement for our country and a long-overdue win for our kids.
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