Alcee Hastings

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. HASTINGS of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), who should be able to vote on whether or not there are vouchers in her city.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey). (Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee). (Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. Majette). (Ms. MAJETTE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Baldwin). (Ms. BALDWIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz). (Mr. ORTIZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), my good friend.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would most respectfully ask that the gentleman's words with reference to idiocrasy be stricken, but without asking a ruling from the Chair, I would ask the gentleman to give consideration to undertaking to do that before making such a demand. He said idiocrasy.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 10 seconds. To the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), I went to school in Alta Mont Springs. There were no certified teachers. Every one of them loved me. My mama and daddy and grandmama never went to school and somehow or another I managed to get three degrees. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), my very good friend and a leader in this field; and I invite the House to listen for 2 minutes to the gentleman.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield for a unanimous consent request to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), my good friend. (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez) who is distinguishing herself in our body as new Member, my friend.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have at this time?

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Three, and we are at that time prepared to close.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am very privileged and pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), who is not only my good friend, but is a person that ran a Head Start program in the United States of America while the rest of us are running our mouths about Head Start.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge), who was the superintendent of education in North Carolina and speaks very clearly with reference to these issues based on his experience.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne). (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Delaware knows that I have great respect for him. That will continue regardless of our different views on this subject. What he did was read from today's Roll Call by that paragon of education, Morton Kondracke, who is probably a friend of his and certainly a friend of mine. But the gentleman left out another thing that Mr. Kondracke said. He said, ``Democrats did help Bush pass his No Child Left Behind standards and testing initiative in 2001 and now have every right to blast his and the GOP Congress' failure to fund it.'' So, you see, context has a lot to do with things. When the gentleman was before the Committee on Rules, I asked him, in a respectful manner, was there one teacher organization or one parent organization or one student organization that supported the bill that he put forward. He looked to his staff and indicated that there was an education trust group, which the Democrats support as well because it deals with the quality of teachers and teacher pay. There are no teacher organizations, no parent organizations, no student organizations that support this proposition. The fact of the matter is, one of my distinguished colleagues from Florida came down here and all of these ladies who represent nearly 13 million people, along with the two men that stood with them and asked unanimous consent, he referred to them as a line of mediocrity. If he wants mediocrity, all he has to do is suggest that if this bill rose to the level of mediocrity, it would be fine. Look to Florida for mediocrity when they say they leave no children behind. In Florida we not only leave them behind, we lose them and cannot find them.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi). (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva), a new Member, but a distinguished person that has dynamics with reference to this matter as a part of his portfolio.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), my good friend. (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, will the Chair tell me how much time we have remaining.