WASHINGTON - Something strange is happening on Capitol Hill: Politicians are working together.
Lawmakers crafting a remake to President Bush's landmark No Child Left Behind law are making progress on the bill as a bipartisan group, in sharp contrast to the contentious, 14-month battle over health care.
At the center of the education debate is Minnesota Rep. John Kline, whose role as the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee has made him the GOP's point man in that branch of Congress for education reform.
Kline and his Democrat colleagues carry differing approaches to education reform, but nonetheless have fielded one another's ideas as they craft legislation. It started several months ago, with a bipartisan meeting of legislators on Capitol Hill.
The four-term congressman largely credits Education Secretary Arne Duncan with charting a more inclusive legislative path and trying to avoid the partisan pitfalls of the health care debate.
"Not only is it good to develop policy that way, but I think that he realizes that he really needs some Republican buy-in in order to get this," Kline said during a recent interview in his Washington office. "Because just like with No Child Left Behind, you're going to have some Republicans support, some not, some Democrats support, some not."
Kline and Duncan speak frequently by phone. "We do see eye to eye on some things, which is what's made this possible to go forward," Kline said.
NCLB criticized as outdated