i think the president and the secretary of education, arne duncan, seized the moment to try to move america forward as a relates to education. i think one of the things i was involved with, as governor and a former education commissioner for our state of florida, was the race to the top that we just came through, a very competitive situation with all states throughout the country competing for a grant, if you will, in order to invest more in education and are hard working public school teachers. while the first round, florida was not successful with what secretary duncan and president obama put forward, but we had the opportunity to try again. and we were successful, getting us about $700 million to invest more into education in the sunshine state, help our children for their future. that is why, as you say, every president, frankly every governor, wants to be in education president or governor, because the issue is so important feature, and that is what the president talked about, winning the future. in order for us to do this, we have to seize upon education, the competition and creates,

(ashley) today we're interviewing arne duncan.he secretary of education for the united states of america. i am so nervous, and i don't think i've everr been this excited before. (ashley) did anyone doubt you in your process of trying to become the secretary of education? oh sure, you have people doubt you all the time. people are going to doubt you all your life, and people are going to continue to doubt you today, and people doubted the president every step along his path. the question is: do you let those doubts stop you? i think it's so important that you not let those external doubts become self-doubts, and in fact use that as motivation to work harder, and do better, and to prove people wrong. so how's this whole roadtrip nation thing been? it's been good? this is such an awesome experience. (aleyde) i'm always going o cherish this in my heart. (autumn) we are in new york, ny! (autumn) gosh...we could do anything our little hearts desired. (aaron) i feel surprised that it's over in a few days. (liz) it's still kind of scary..

[laughter] army duncan -- arne duncan somehow made it through. it showed his leadership and passion to try to get all sides of america to deal with a critical mission to it is for that reason that we asked him to be our speaker this morning -- critical mission. it is for that reason that we ask him to be our speaker this morning. he is someone that i personally respect and admire and i am glad to have him with us today. the united states secretary of education, arne duncan. [applause] >> good morning. reverend sharpton, thank you for that kind introduction. congratulations on the award. i went back to my office after that meeting and told my staff that we will want to go on a five-city tour with reverend al sharpton and the gingrich and a thought it was a bad idea. i said that it was not my idea. that was the president's idea. they said,"let's get to work." of all the jokes that we make, this is a great metaphor as to what the country has to do. we all have to move out of our copper zone. i actually didn't take much risk. the fact that he was out

there is arne duncan in the gray suit, the secretary of transportation. long-time friend... i mean, of education. long-time friend and fellow basketball player with president obama in chicago. he's the former head of the school system in chicago. there of course is secretary chu in front of him. behind him is the veteran affairs secretary. janet napolitano behind him, homeland security. there on the left you see the left side senator john kerry of massachusetts, now chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. a man who was of course in 2004 the democrat nominee for president. now we see behind secretary napolitano bill daley former secretary of commerce in the clinton administration and now the new white house chief of staff. replaced rahm emanuel who is back in chicago to see if he can become mayor. he is now shaking hands with tom coburn, senator coburn of oklahoma. now, of course, the big deal here... there is secretary clinton laughing with secretary gates and secretary geithner. there on the right is senator sessions. my guess is they're laughing about the idea

arne duncan, along with the president, ala what mayor daley, these people needs to go look at what they did. host: thanks so much. another tweet about education. next caller is rebecca and sunnyvale, california. caller: i wanted to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. i thought barack obama speech was wonderful. it was very inspiring. i like how he addressed innovation being key, bringing up education, and addressing energy renewal. bring our troops home was also very important. my only concern is addressing both parties and getting them to cooperate with his new ideas. so i would like to see how he is going to go about doing that. that seems to be the biggest challenge, getting them to cooperate and getting them on board with supporting him for the american people. host: rebecca mentions military. another tweet about the military. hartford, connecticut, larry, you are on the air. caller: i think you for hearing me. i think the president's speech, i did not hear him speak about the people who lost their houses or the people in tent cities in florida who are homeless, pe

>> it was an honor after arne duncan was madehead of education by obama. it's an honor to be at such a wonderful college. >> what have you learned over the last couple of weeks? >> we have only been here a week. we definitely have a lot of information. we were laughing yesterday in our room. but definitely how politics and media are definitely intertwined. definitely -- i am an international relations major. we talked policy withthe secretary of state hillary clinton. i was in awe about it. as of this moment, we have more events, but that would be my high point. >> we have been talking about the fairness doctrine and the idea of fairness. should we have the government do that? >> i definitely do not thing so. i think that every person this room has an opinion, has a point of view, and it should be up to the constituents to believe what. that will take on the media. everyone will have a different opinion. we have to agree to disagree. by putting out that doctrine, if you have one person regulating everything. that would definitely go against the first amend

there is arne duncan in the gray suit, the secretary of transportation. long-time friend... i mean, of education. long-time friend and fellow basketball player with president obama in chicago. he's the former head of the school system in chicago. there of course is secretary chu in front of him. behind him is the veteran affairs secretary. janet napolitano behind him, homeland security. there on the left you see the left side senator john kerry of massachusetts, now chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. a man who was of course in 2004 the democrat nominee for president. now we see behind secretary napolitano bill daley former secretary of commerce in the clinton administration and now the new white house chief of staff. replaced rahm emanuel who is back in chicago to see if he can become mayor. he is now shaking hands with tom coburn, senator coburn of oklahoma. now, of course, the big deal here... there is secretary clinton laughing with secretary gates and secretary geithner. there on the right is senator sessions. my guess is they're laughing about the idea

arne duncan rights in the "washington post," -- writes in the "washington post," "most people dislike the no child left behind mandate. providing more flexibility to schools, districts, and states, while also holding them accountable, is the goal of many people in both parties." that is why many people support the work of 44 states to replace multiple choice bubble tests with new tests that help inform and improve instruction but accurately measuring what children know -- by accurately measuring what children know. jeb bush, the governor of florida, in the wall street journal, "according to the u.s. census, a high-school dropout earns around $19,000 per year on average. a high-school diploma raises that average to $26,600. -- $28,600. a college degree could raise your earning potential to $51,000.500. -- $51,500. in 1998, nearly half of florida's fourth graders were functionally illiterate. today, 72% of them can read. they are reading better than other students in 31 other states." could you plan to keep an eye on? could you think might be a rising star? politico says, "top again sta

after that, and national prayer breakfast with education secretary arne duncan and reverend al sharptondr. king. tomorrow, the house will bring up a measure to repeal the health care law passed by the last congress. we will bring you some of that debate. this is from the house floor a week and a half ago on what rules will be used for the healthcare repeal bill. the house will vote on the repeal one said. the senate said it will not bring up the measure -- the house will vote on the repeal wednesday. and rules committee colleague, the the gentlelady from rochester, new york, ms. slaughter. pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dreier: during consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to rise and exnd which i have done. and i ask all members have five lemming days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore:ithout objection. mr. dreier: madam speaker, house resolution

so what we need to do is continue to work with arne duncan from the education secretary and others toreally push this effort and challenged those people that want to live with a status quo, and i think the we will find a lot of common ground on that. on the infrastructure thing, i think that we are all saying the right thing we are just not getting there and a free that he wants it but nobody wants to pay for it and we are going to have to figure out a way to get there, but it is something when you think about it you not only get a long-term benefit, but you get the short term and the long term benefit of creating a lot of jobs. and i think as people look at a recovery that is not going to drive down on employment at the speed they would like to, if you might see more tension in the infrastructure boost. >> i would make a couple quick comments. first of education and the it's important to remember the new speaker of the house was a lead negotiator for the child left behind with george miller and the clinton administration. that isn't a bad start. on the r&d, let's not confuse two thin

so what we need to do is continue to work with arne duncan from the education secretary and others toreally push his effort and challenged those people that want to live with a status quo, and i think the we will find a lot of common ground on that. on the infrastructure thing, i think that we are all saying the right thing we are just not getting there and a free that he wants it but nobody wants to pay for it and we are going to have to figure out a way to get there, but it is something when you think about it you not only get a long-term benefit, but you get the short term and the long term benefit of creating a lot of jobs. and i thin as eople look at a recovery that is not going to drive down on employment at the speed they would like to, if you might see more tension in the infrastructure boost. >> i would make a couple quick comments. first of education and the it's important to remember the new speaker of the house was a lead negotiator for the child left behind with george miller and thclinton administration. that isn't a bad start. on the r&d, let's not confuse two things. o

i have heard a lot of things happening from arne duncan. we have children from first grade all the weight to 12 -- all the way to 12. public schools say it is too expensive. even though it is with the ada idea of dyslexia with disorders, many school-age children are reflect -- affected with dyslexia. 20% at school children are affected with other disorders, just putting your thoughts together. these are very intelligent children. we have a lot of children who are going to be our future, and i want to know, instead of having these kids not get educated, even though they want to and want to learn and are eager -- host: i'm going to jump in at this point, because we had a lot of people on the line. as governor of the state, you are responsible for admit administration of no child left behind. testing for children with problems like dyslexia was a real area of debate. maybe even add that perspective to the question. guest: as we authorize education funding, we have to have flexibility at the local level what works for north dakota and the small

[laughter] army duncan -- arne duncan somehow made it through. it showed his leadership and passion to try to get all sides of america to deal with a critical mission to it is for that reason that we asked him to be our speaker this morning -- critical mission. it is for that reason that we ask him to be our speaker this morning. he is someone that i personally respect and admire and i am glad to have him with us today. the united states secretary of education, arne duncan. [applause] >> good morning. reverend sharpton, thank you for that kind introduction. congratulations on the award. i went back to my office after that meeting and told my staff that we will want to go on a five-city tour with reverend al sharpton and the gingrich and a thought it was a bad idea. i said that it was not my idea. that was the president's idea. they said,"let's get to work." of all the jokes that we make, this is a great metaphor as to what the country has to do. we all have to move out of our copper zone. i actually didn't take much risk. the fact that he was out