Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is simple. It shortens authorization of the act from 6 years to 4 years. I am very thankful for the leadership of the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman) for his work in leading this effort.

Mr. Chairman, it is the role of Congress to conduct oversight of Federal programs and regularly revisit the results of taxpayer investments. We began a process to replace No Child Left Behind 4 years ago, and our goal from the beginning has always been to roll back the Federal Government's authority over K-12 schools and return to State and local education leaders the responsibility and opportunity to deliver a quality education to their students.

Now, the Student Success Act is a strong conservative proposal that reflects our shared principles for reducing the Federal role, restoring local control, and empowering individuals, not government bureaucrats. Reducing the authorization to 4 years will give Congress and the next administration a chance to ensure that these bold reforms are actually working as intended.

Mr. Chairman, I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment to the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for supporting the amendment. The reasons he is supporting are completely wrong. We have increased Federal spending, as the gentleman knows, on education over 300 percent since the Federal Government has been involved. And guess what, Mr. Chairman, the results have been flat-lined.

This bill does anything but take from the poor and give to the rich. In fact, it ensures that civil rights are protected and that children, whatever socioeconomic background, aren't left behind, but they have the opportunity to succeed in the 21st century and win.

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