Senate Republicans celebrate ahead of vote to replace No Child Left Behind
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Version 0 of 1. A new video posted online Monday by the National Republican Senatorial Committee features five Republican senators celebrating passage of a new federal K-12 bill, a day before the final vote is scheduled. The House passed the bill last week by a healthy bipartisan margin of 359 to 64, and it is widely expected to sail through the Senate on Tuesday. [House votes to leave “No Child” behind] On Monday, the NRSC released a video that stresses a theme that Republican leaders have been hammering of late — that under GOP control, Congress has once again sprung to life and is making laws. “Unlike the previous majority’s dysfunction — under which Democrats failed to enact any education reform, Republicans quickly restored the Senate to regular order,” committee Communications Director Andrea Bozek said in a statement. “Together with the other 80+ bipartisan bills passed since January, legislative achievements, such as the Every Child Achieves Act, underscore the effectiveness of the new Republican majority and its commitment to our children’s future.” Bozek said the video refers to legislation that was a forerunner of the bill that is teed up for a vote on Tuesday. That earlier legislation was passed in the Senate in July. The video released by the committee, the election arm of Senate Republicans, is titled “The Majority Is Working: Fighting for Children” and features stock footage of adorable children in classrooms, walking down school hallways and boarding buses, interspersed with commentary from lawmakers. “The American people I think see dysfunctional regulations coming out of Washington, D.C. — particularly with the education department,” says committee Chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, in a swipe at the Obama administration and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “We all want our children to be educated, but the question is who is better empowered to make education decisions?” The bill that will come before the Senate would shift significant power over public schools from the federal government back to the states and local school districts. And while it garnered significant support from Democrats and Republicans in the House, not all GOP members were on board. Sixty-four Republicans voted against the measure, saying it did not go far enough to restrain the federal role in public education. This story has been updated. |