(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, the bipartisan compromise reached by Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) to rewrite the broken No Child Left Behind law. The legislation passed unanimously through the HELP Committee and now moves to the Senate floor. Following the vote, Senator Murray released the following statement:
“Today’s vote was another positive step toward fixing the badly broken No Child Left Behind law and ensuring that all students have the opportunity to learn, no matter where they live, how they learn, or how much money their parents make—and now I am hopeful that we can keep this momentum going and get this done.
“I am very pleased with the bipartisan process in committee, which allowed us to build on and improve the starting point that Chairman Alexander and I agreed to work from. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues to continue to strengthen and improve this legislation on the Senate floor and as we work toward getting this signed into law.
“Working through this process in a bipartisan way from start to finish is the best chance we have to fix this broken law, so I appreciate Chairman Alexander’s hard work, dedication, and willingness to work with me—and I look forward to continuing our bipartisan work to get this across the finish line.”
During the markup, three amendments offered by Senator Murray passed with strong bipartisan support: an amendment to help ensure that military-connected children are succeeding in school, an amendment to help schools and communities in the aftermath of violent or traumatic events, and an amendment to improve and expand early learning programs.
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