[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 177 (Tuesday, December 8, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8445-S8446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS BILL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, both parties have long agreed that No 
Child Left Behind is broken and needs to be fixed. The House of 
Representatives passed reformist replacements for this law over the 
past few Congresses, but the Senate didn't consider legislation on the 
floor for years--until now.
  A new majority in Congress thought it was time to finally change that 
dynamic. So we have demonstrated how a functioning committee process 
and a functioning Senate could help break through the gridlock. We 
showed how it could lead to important work across the aisle from a 
Republican like Senator Alexander and a Democrat like Senator Murray, 
and in so doing, we not only proved that conservative reform was 
possible, we proved that it could pass by big bipartisan margins.
  The version of the Every Student Succeeds Act the Senate considered 
this summer passed 81 to 17. The Every Student Succeeds Act before us 
just passed the House 359 to 64, and soon we will have the opportunity 
to send it to the President for his signature.
  The Wall Street Journal dubbed this bill ``the largest devolution of 
federal control to the States in a quarter-century.'' It will stop 
Washington from imposing Common Core. It will strengthen the charter 
school program. It will substitute one-size-fits-all Federal mandates 
for greater State and local flexibility. In short, the Every Student 
Succeeds Act will put education back in the hands of those who know our 
kids best: parents, teachers, States, and school boards. It will help 
students succeed instead of helping Washington grow. That is something 
all of us can get behind because all of us represent different States 
with different children who have different needs.
  I know Kentucky's newly appointed education commissioner is 
enthusiastic about this landmark reform. He wrote me to say that this 
bill would be good for Kentucky because it would do things such as 
ensure more flexibility, support rural schools, and help the 
Commonwealth provide for teacher development.
  I thank the senior Senators from Tennessee and Washington for all 
their hard work on this bill. Some may have questioned whether 
Washington could ever agree on a replacement for No Child Left Behind, 
but today we have the Every Student Succeeds Act before us. It is a 
good replacement. It is a conservative reform with significant 
bipartisan support and one that will do right by those who matter most 
in the discussion: our children and our future.
  Just days after the President signed an important bipartisan highway 
bill we passed, we soon expect to send him an important bipartisan 
education bill to sign as well. We might even pass it as soon as today. 
Passing either of these bipartisan bills after years of inaction would 
have represented a very big win for our country. What is more, it is 
notable that both could now be signed into law within such a short 
timeframe.
  Passage of these bills follows Senate passage of many other 
achievements for the American people too, on issues ranging from cyber 
security, to trade, to energy, to entitlement reform, even combatting 
modern-day slavery.
  Sometimes it was assumed that Washington could never come to an 
agreement on certain issues, but not only did we pass some long-stalled 
priorities for America, we often did so on a bipartisan basis. The 
question is, How do you achieve passage of important bills? One way is 
to foster an atmosphere where both parties can have more of a say on 
more issues, starting at the committee level. Let me give an example. 
Consider what the American people saw in the debate over the Education 
bill. They saw Senators they sent to Washington having their voices 
heard again, regardless of party. They saw them making meaningful 
contributions in committee. They saw them working across the aisle. 
They saw them having more opportunities to offer amendments. The 
American people actually saw the Senate take more

[[Page S8446]]

amendment rollcall votes on this single bill than the Senate took all 
of last year on all bills combined.
  This is what Senator Murray, a Democrat, said when the Senate first 
passed this bill in July: ``I am very proud of the bipartisan work we 
have done on the Senate floor--debating amendments, taking votes, and 
making this good bill even better.'' I know her Republican counterpart, 
Senator Alexander, feels exactly the same way, just like Senator 
Inhofe, a Republican, agrees with Senator Boxer, a Democrat, when she 
refers to the highway bill as ``a major accomplishment.''

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