House Republican leaders have quietly pulled legislation to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law thanks to conservative opposition that would have sunk the bill.
The newly formed House Freedom Caucus, made up of about three dozen conservative Republicans, are calling it the first victory for their group.
“They are still talking about bringing it back up again,” Rep. John Fleming, R-La., told the Washington Examiner. “But they are going to have to make major, major fixes before they are going to be able to pass it.”
A House GOP leadership aide told the Washington Examiner the bill is not dead and will come up in the future.
“As far as the bill not coming up, that’s not true,” Mike Long, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told the Examiner.
But he said no do date for reconsideration has been set.
The bill would have revamped the Bush-era No Child legislation by reducing federal control over some funding and some program and testing requirements, but conservatives said it did not go far enough to untether the government from local education.
The legislation was withdrawn from consideration last week, amid a House battle over a critical funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. It appeared as though consideration was suspended in order to deal with the pressing need to pass a Homeland Security funding bill before a Feb. 27 deadline.
But conservatives say that was not the reason.
“They didn’t yank it because of what else was going on,” Fleming said, “they yanked it because they didn’t have nearly enough votes.”
Conservative lawmakers said constituents phoned and emailed their offices, demanding they reject the bill until it went further to reduce federal control.
“Your calls, emails & tweets made a difference!” Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., said to followers on Twitter after the bill was removed from the floor.
Conservatives tried to include their own amendments, including one that would have allowed states to “opt out” of No Child. But GOP leaders prohibited those amendments, costing conservative support.
Democrats, meanwhile, were not going to be of any help as they opposed the legislation’s provision to allow federal dollars to follow impoverished students, rather than tying money to school districts.
President Obama also opposed the measure.
“Probably to pass No Child they would have had to get Democratic support,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., an opponent of the measure, told the Examiner.
“To me that was the first victim of united conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus,” Huelskamp added. “Conservatives won on that.”
Outside conservative groups also lobbied heavily against the legislation, including homeschooling organizations and Heritage Action for America.
Conservatives want changes to the bill, including the “opt out” provision, the elimination of federal testing mandates and the ability of poor students to use federal funds at private schools.
Republican leaders are not budging, however.
“I don’t think any changes will be made,” Long said. “We’ll be ready to put the bill on the floor and vote yes or no.”
