No child left behind

Senators are working on an overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law that would let states waive obligations to standardized testing. Senators Harkin and Enzi proposed the 868-page bipartisan bill. However, Senator Rand Paul invoked a procedural rule requiring the consent of the Senate if any committee met for more than two hours and halted the committee action. He announced that he did not want to rush the bill through Congress. However, President Obama and the senators were visibly frustrated at congressional inaction.

            I also learned that Congress is inefficient and slow at making any changes due to many technical processes. Senator Paul’s decision to invoke a rarely-used, but simple rule is an all too easy way to delay legislation. Furthermore, any simple conflicting of interests could lead to similar methods of blocking action in Congress and contributing further to inaction and policy gridlock. In addition, the article raised the issue of whether the bill should be considered from scratch in a delayed process for a thorough hearing. However, the other side of the argument is that the input gathered across the years from teachers and students is sufficient. This is also a question of the effectiveness of linkage institutions in voicing these concerns. Also, the overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law would mean giving back to states powers that the federal government had previously seized. Instead of imposing standardized mandates across the nation, state teachers would be given more freedom to develop curriculum to meet the needs of their students. Overall the situation presented in the article is a good representation of the problems in the congressional process and interactions of policy in state and federal governments.

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