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This week is National School Choice Week. School choice is paving a path forward for a brighter future for millions of students and states and local communities remain at the forefront of this effort.
As a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, I worked to craft legislation this year that was passed by Congress which includes important reforms to support and expand school choice. The Every Student Succeeds Act strengthens charter schools and magnet schools, protects private schools from federal interference, supports dual enrollment programs, and creates a pilot program that allows funds to follow students to the school he or she attends.
As we celebrate National School Choice Week, I will continue to work with my colleagues on the Committee to promote school choice and expand its opportunities to ensure all students are able to receive the education they deserve. Next week, the Committee will hold a hearing to examine how states and local communities are working to expand educational opportunity through school choice. Please click here to tune in or learn more.
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| From our Nation's Capitol XL |
Monday, January 25, 2016: Wow! What an eventful weekend. As I mentioned in last week’s column, we are having our annual staff retreat this weekend with staff from Washington and the district attending. What’s the difference in being in Washington, D.C., this weekend and in the First District of Georgia, you ask? About 2 ½ feet of snow, that’s the difference. Washington got clobbered by one of the worst snow storms in their recent history this weekend. Fortunately, our Washington staff left the area before the snow began and they were here this weekend. Unfortunately, they were to return home safely today which is a relief to me as I feel a certain amount of responsibility for their safety. Staff retreats in the district are invaluable, particularly for those staff members who are not from the district. Last year we were in Savannah and this year we are in the Brunswick area. Aside from our meeting sessions where we review our goals from the past year as well as set our goals for the upcoming year, review what we feel we did right and identify what we can do better, we also have the opportunity to tour some of the areas in the district that we are working with. For instance, while in the Brunswick area we had the opportunity to tour the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), a facility that is used by 96 federal agencies for training. The U.S. Capitol Police, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and many other federal agencies all get their basic training right here in the First District of Georgia. We also had the opportunity to tour the Brunswick Port, the number two roll on-roll off port in the nation. The number of cars that are run through this facility every year is phenomenal. Again, located right here in the First District of Georgia. We visited Fort Frederica and Cumberland Island, two national treasures that we are currently working with in our office on very important issues. Yesterday, I received notice that votes for today have been cancelled and this morning they notified us that the scheduled votes for Tuesday and Wednesday have been cancelled as well. This winter storm has wreaked havoc on flights all across the nation, and with members from literally every part of the country trying to get back, leadership has decided to wait it out.
Congressman Carter at the Savannah Rotary Club |
I take advantage of being home today and join the Savannah Rotary Club at their weekly meeting where Savannah State University President Cheryl Dozier makes a great presentation. Later that afternoon I make the 2 ½ hour drive down to Homerville to present the Georgia Class A public school football champion Clinch County Panthers a Congressional Proclamation that I entered into the House records recognizing their achievement. In presenting this proclamation to these state champions in front of their classmates and supportive community members, I am reminded of how important teamwork is and what can be accomplished when a community comes together.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016: Although votes have been called off this week, I still have important business to attend to in Washington so I head to the airport for my flight to Atlanta then to Washington. As anyone who flies often will tell you, flying can be very frustrating at times and this is one of those times. After literally running through the airport to catch my connecting flight to Washington, I am informed that the airplane is experiencing mechanical problems and we will be delayed for a while. Over three hours later our flight leaves and we finally reach Washington. Granted, I am from South Georgia and I haven’t traveled a lot in my life, but except for a few ski resorts that I have been to, this is the most snow I have ever seen in my life. While most of the major arterioles have been cleared, many of the back roads in the area remain impassable. Once at my office, I spend the few hours remaining in the day catching up on paperwork.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016: My first order of business this morning is a phone interview with Pharmacy Times, a national pharmacy journal, where we discuss pending pharmacy legislation and I update them on my experiences during my first year in Congress. As the only pharmacist in Congress, it is important that I keep my colleagues up to date on legislation that could potentially impact our profession. My first meeting this morning is with a representative from Novartis, a Swiss multinational pharma company that makes a number of pharmaceuticals.
Congressman Carter meeting with Oceana |
This meeting is in preparation for a trip I will be making in a few weeks to visit one of their facilities in Boston, MA. Next, I meet with representatives from Oceana, a group who are opposed to any offshore energy exploration or production. Among those present are Phil Odom from Hinesville and Alice Keyes from Brunswick. Later in the afternoon, I head to a retreat with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research and educational organization. Our opening address is presented by Dr. Charles Kesler, a professor of Government/Political Science at Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate University, who spoke about the Constitution and Separation of Powers.
Thursday, January 28, 2016: As we continue our conservative retreat with the Heritage Foundation today, we have quite a few presentations including ones dealing with the subject of rising inequality, liberal threats to individual liberty and how to respond to the security threats around the globe. My favorite program today was a strategic choice exercise where we were given five of the most dangerous places in the world- our choices were Syria, Iran, China, North Korea and Russia- and told we only had money and resources to cover three of these areas. Our charge was to choose the top three and justify our choices.
Congressman Carter at the Heritage Retreat |
The three chosen by the group were Syria, Iran and China. Later, we had a fascinating conversation with Kim Holmes, a former Assistant Secretary of State in the George W. Bush Administration, about American Foreign Policy.
Friday, January 29, 2016: We finish our retreat this morning with two very interesting discussions, one on the Constitution and recent polling on Americans modern day perception of the application of the Constitution and on liberal policies which hurt the poor. Included in the latter discussion was a riveting discussion on entitlement reform and what conservatives can do to bring this to the forefront. As I head back to the airport to return home, the snow is still present, although almost all roads have been cleared now.
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