NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND REWRITE TO FACE ANOTHER SHOWDOWN IN HOUSE
Another fight may be on the horizon in the House of Representatives, as Republican leaders seem poised to again try to replace the controversial No Child Left Behind law with the Student Success Act, a measure that has proven to be just as unpopular with conservatives.
The Hill reports that freshman
took to the House floor Wednesday to call for a vote on the bill.“We need to continue our work on this bill,” Costello said. “We owe it to our colleagues who have worked for months on the bill and underlying policy.”
In his May 29 memo, House Majority Leader
noted H.R. 5 would be considered in June:Additionally, the House is expected to resume consideration of H.R. 5 the Student Success Act (Kline) in order to restore local control in elementary and secondary education. Our education system is failing too many students who are trying hard to succeed. By reducing the federal role and increasing freedom in education, we can give our children the opportunity they deserve to achieve their dreams.
McCarthy added the timing for consideration of the measure would be relayed as soon as possible.
As Breitbart News reported in late February, GOP leadership pulled the Student Success Act from the House floor after it was determined the legislation lacked sufficient support. Grassroots conservative parent groups seeking to eliminate federal involvement in education voiced concerns that the rewrite still required excessive federal intrusion into the right of states to set their own education policies.
The Washington Examiner reports conservative House members say they will not support the measure without significant changes. GOP leaders, however, have said they have no intentions to make alterations to the bill, but will put it back on the House floor exactly as it was in February.
Republican leaders seem poised to resume attempts to convince the conservative base of their party that the bill will reduce federal involvement in education and return it to the states and localities.
“I think the votes are pretty close,” said Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee
. “Members have just learned more. They are much better educated.”But House members who were against it in February say they have not changed their opinion of the bill.
’s office tells Breitbart News he has the same concerns now as he did about the bill in February. Four days before the measure was pulled from the House floor, Amash posted the following on his Facebook page:No Child Left Behind expired on September 30, 2007, yet Congress has continued to fund it year after year. Now, there are people in Congress who want to reauthorize this big-government program.Instead of doubling down on No Child Left Behind, Congress should stop funding it. The law expired more than seven years ago! We owe it to our children—and we have a constitutional duty as members of Congress—to return education decisions to parents and states.
Though the Student Success Act passed the House in 2013, Amash voted against it, andposted his reasons:
I voted no on H.R. 5, Student Success Act, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and many aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) through Fiscal Year 2019. Authorization for these programs expired in 2008, so ESEA and NCLB have not been the law for nearly five years.The Rules of the House prohibit appropriating for purposes not actually authorized by law (like ESEA/NCLB), but a loophole in the Rules for continuing resolutions (CRs)—bills that simply extend current spending levels—have allowed funding for these unauthorized programs to continue (and Congress routinely violates the rule against unauthorized appropriations, anyway). Nonetheless, under current law, these federal education programs have expired, and the federal government has noNo Child Left Behind Rewrite To Face Another Showdown in House - Breitbart: