..and Ted Kennedy was a good driver.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A52337-2001Dec16
Long Road to Reform
Negotiators Forge Education Legislation
By David S. Broder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 17, 2001; Page A01
EXCERPT
“We had 30 to 60 of our own [conservative Republican] members who would not follow the president's path,” Boehner said. (In the end, 33 Republicans, along with six Democrats and two Independents, voted against the bill.) Boehner himself was ready to follow Bush, having become convinced that Republicans needed to do more for schools. He had come to share Miller's belief that too many poor children are consigned to academic failure simply because no one knows or cares that they are slipping behind. Boehner was the only child, in a family of 12, to receive a college degree.
Boehner and Miller met alone the day after their first Oval Office session and agreed they would try to write a bill together while resisting pressure from the powerful education lobby groups. Vouchers were off the table, they agreed. Bush had proposed them only as a final option for pupils in chronically failing schools and had signaled that if states wanted a voucher program, they should pay for it themselves.
But “Straight A's” was a potential deal-breaker. As Boehner put it, it was “the Holy Grail” to many Republicans “but White Lightning to Democrats.” Before the House committee voted, Bush called Miller and asked him to support at least the scaled-down, seven-state demonstration program of block grants that Kennedy had agreed to put in the Senate bill. Miller said no.
But the House Republican leadership prepared to offer what they called “Kennedy Straight A's” as an amendment on the floor. Boehner warned that it would end Miller's cooperation and drive off Democratic votes. The three top GOP leaders, plus Boehner, trooped down to the White House to present the issue to Bush. They said conservatives were upset at losing vouchers and would rebel if “Straight A's” vanished, too. Boehner argued adamantly for keeping a bipartisan coalition.
“I'm with Boehner,” Bush said, once again challenging his own party's governors and his conservative base.
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BOEHNER MELDED PARTIES ON BILL - Differences set aside to aid failing schools
Dayton Daily News (OH) - Monday, January 7, 2002
Author: Mei-Ling Hopgood Washington Bureau
EXCERPT
Passage of the bill, the 1,080-page manifestation of the president's top domestic priority, was much more difficult and complex than the simple stroke of the president's pen. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act had not been renewed in 1999, doomed mostly by partisan bickering. This time, according to interviews with legislators, aides and media accounts of negotiations, patience and a willingness to compromise on the part of the president and legislators ultimately led to passage of the $26.5 billion plan.
Many believed that negotiation pertaining to the plan would never end, Kennedy said on the Senate floor in December.
“In fact, it was always quietly moving forward,” he said. “We could not have succeeded in this effort without a great deal of support from both sides of the aisle.”
The political massaging began in December 2000, when Bush met in Austin with several legislators of both parties about education reform. Gregg, who was set to sit next to the president, switched his namecard so that Miller could sit next to and get to know Bush, according to accounts in the Washington Post and USA Today .
Kennedy was excluded from that visit. But soon after, Bush called Kennedy , tracking him down on a vacation in St. Croix, a staff member recalled. They talked about their families, and the conversation led to meetings, and ultimately, friendship.
Early in 2001, shortly after Boehner leapfrogged over a more senior member to be elected House Chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, he and Miller, the committee's ranking minority member, met in Boehner ‘s office.