Federal Federal File

Ed. Committee for President

By David J. Hoff — January 17, 2007 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will have a large and complicated agenda in the 110th Congress, trying to increase the minimum wage, improve health care, and make college more affordable.

But accomplishing those goals may be a bit harder now that a third Democratic member of the panel has expressed a desire to be president.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., the second most senior member of the committee, announced last week that he will seek his party’s nomination in 2008.

On his campaign Web site, Sen. Dodd said “there is no more important domestic-policy priority for our country than providing an excellent education to every American child.”

Other potential candidates from the committee are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. They haven’t officially declared their candidacies, but both are openly considering presidential bids and are widely expected to join the fray.

The proliferation of prospective presidents could alter the political dynamics of the Senate education panel. With three of its members seeking the national spotlight, they’ll certainly use the committee’s agenda to boost their chances to win the White House.

At the same time, they may try to steal their rivals’ moment in the limelight, according to Washington insiders who have lobbied the committee.

Efforts to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act will be especially difficult because of the presidential aspirations of the committee members, one former Senate aide said. Even if the Democrats can set aside their differences and unite behind an NCLB bill, Republicans are likely to fight against it to keep it off the résumé of a potential Democratic presidential nominee, said the former aide, who asked not to be named because she lobbies the committee.

In addition, the logistics of running the committee could become more difficult for its chairman, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

With presidential hopefuls on the road and spending an inordinate amount of time raising money, they may not be able to attend the panel’s working sessions, said Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

“The challenge for Kennedy will be to get people there and keep them there,” Mr. Ornstein said.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the January 17, 2007 edition of Education Week

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Opinion Reading Scores Have Plunged Since the Pandemic. What This Senator Wants to Do About That
How can the nation support literacy efforts? The ranking Republican on the Senate education committee wants to hear from educators.
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Federal Biden Calls for Teacher Pay Raises, Expanded Pre-K in State of the Union
President Joe Biden highlighted a number of his education priorities in a high-stakes speech as he seeks a second term.
5 min read
President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington.
President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington.
Shawn Thew/Pool via AP
Federal Low-Performing Schools Are Left to Languish by Districts and States, Watchdog Finds
Fewer than half of district plans for improving struggling schools meet bare minimum requirements.
11 min read
A group of silhouettes looks across a grid with a public school on the other side.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
Federal Biden Admin. Says New K-12 Agenda Tackles Absenteeism, Tutoring, Extended Learning
The White House unveiled a set of K-12 priorities at the start of an election year.
4 min read
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participates in a roundtable discussion with students from Dartmouth College on Jan. 10, 2024, on the school's campus, in Hanover, N.H.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participates in a roundtable discussion with students from Dartmouth College on Jan. 10, 2024, on the school's campus, in Hanover, N.H.
Steven Senne/AP