Chairman Kennedy First Off the Blocks (1/11/2008)

This Tuesday was the sixth anniversary of the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and it received considerable attention in Washington. In an effort to get his message out before others could this week, Senator Kennedy (D-MA) published an editorial in the Washington Post on the reauthorization of the law. In “How to Fix ‘No Child,’” Kennedy made the point that he will navigate the law’s fate in 2008 and that the law will not disappear while he is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

“We in Congress,” wrote the Chairman, “have an obligation to parents, to teachers and, most of all, to schoolchildren across America to draw the right lessons from these past six years with the No Child Left Behind Act and put school reform on a stronger path for the future.” Kennedy, of course, did not clarify what this path would be, but he did identify some top priorities including the use of multiple measures to determine the status of schools, dealing with the “drop out crisis,” parental involvement, better teacher training and mentoring and adequate funding for school reform.

Most interesting, Sen. Kennedy evoked his brother Robert Kennedy to support the continuing work on the reauthorization of NCLB. This, to be sure, is something that he does not do lightly and it is another reminder that genuine legislative education activity is not on the campaign trail in 2008, but it is occurring within the offices of the House and Senate education committees. The next President will simply be the beneficiary of their 2007 and 2008 work. (Note, however, the distinction between legislative activity and regulatory activity that is discussed below).

Resource:
Edward Kennedy, “How to Fix ‘No Child,’” Washington Post, Columns, January 7, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010601828.html.
Author: DAD

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DREAM On

On Wednesday, the Senate moved to consider S. 2205, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2007 (DREAM Act), which was introduced on October 18. The move sought to secure 60 votes for cloture, which cuts off debate on a bill and avoids the practice of killing off a bill through a litany of amendments or a filibuster. The vote failed and Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the bill’s sponsor, will now have to find another vehicle for the bill in order to pass it during the 110th Congress. Sen. Durbin has advocated for the matter over the last five years and Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) carried the torch on Wednesday. “I very much appreciate the hard work of Senator Durbin and Senator Hatch to bring this legislation to the floor. They have worked tirelessly to ensure this important bipartisan bill does not go away. We must now invoke cloture and pass this bill. Vote cloture and move to this legislation. If we do, we will put the American dream within the reach of far more children in Nevada and across America who want nothing more than a fair chance at success. That will be an accomplishment of which we can all be proud.” The effort, however, was without success. The result was announced – yeas 52, nays 44. Three-fifths of the Senators did not vote in the affirmative and the motion was rejected.

Resources:
Congressional Record, Daily Digest, Senate, Chamber Action, p.S13300-06.
Author: DAD

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Immigration on Deck for the Senate

When Congress returns to work next week, the Senate will likely tie itself into a knot trying to deal with the new immigration bill that a select group of Senators introduced on May 9, S. 1348, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.
The small coalition of Senators who patched this together will have a hard time defending it from its critics in both parties.

The Republican Party is imploding over provisions that would legalize the status of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the US. They are labeling it an “amnesty” bill. Many Democrats are incensed about the guest worker program that provides no direct path to permanent residence and that focuses on employment needs over family needs. There are also interest groups that all seem to have a moral gripe with one provision or another. The only thing holding the bill together is a political need to advance the issues, but the devil is in the details, and there are many details in this bill.
For example, of particular interest to the adult education community is the language training that an immigrant could receive on the pathway to citizenship. As he did in last year’s immigration debate, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) will likely offer an amendment that would allocate $500 for each "lawful immigrant" seeking citizenship to participate in English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) services. The $500 would come from the fees that each person would pay to gain citizenship and the funds could be used for ESOL programs provided by “accredited institutions of higher education or other qualified educational institutions (as determined by the chief).” This amendment, however, would likely create duplicative programs to ones already in the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) and it would provide insufficient funding for those duplicative programs.
The bill has drawn so many criticisms that over 100 amendments to the measure have already been filed, and aides expect many more to be filed at the beginning of next week. It is unclear how Senate majority leader Harry Reid (NV) will manage them, but it is clear that immigration is quickly becoming an issue that will define the parties as they head into the 2008 election season.
Resources:
Beth Crowley, “Long List of Amendments Clouds Procedural Picture for Immigration Bill,” CongressNow, May 31, 2007.
Author: DAD

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