House

House revives No Child Left Behind reform bill

by Cristina Marcos - 07/01/15 3:40 PM ET

House Republicans have resurrected legislation that would overhaul the No Child Left Behind education law, after yanking it from the floor in February.

Aides confirmed that the bill will be back on the floor next week after months of negotiations to ensure it had the votes to pass the second time around.

Conservative groups like Heritage Action rallied against the bill in February, arguing it would preserve too much federal influence in education policy.

Lawmakers sympathetic to the conservative group’s concerns were frustrated when leadership denied votes on amendments to eliminate testing requirements and include private schools as an option for school choice.

Virtually all Democrats opposed the measure, meaning Republicans were unable to make up the vote deficit. GOP leaders consequently abruptly pulled the bill from the floor.

That decision came on the same day the House was unable to pass a short-term bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security due to a stalemate over President Obama’s immigration executive actions.

House GOP leaders are gradually reviving multiple bills that fell apart at the beginning of the new Congress. The House recently passed a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, after it stalled in January.