Sen. Mike Lee’s accreditation bill has gained the support of two potential Republican presidential candidates, Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. Earlier this year, Sen. Lee proposed allowing states to establish their own accrediting agencies as alternatives to the regional accreditation system. According to a piece on the proposal in Slate today, Senators Rubio and Paul have both incorporated similar ideas into their proposals and expressed support for Sen. Lee.
Support from the presidential candidates could give the ideas behind the bill significantly more leverage over the next two years. Sen. Lee is not, himself, well positioned to advance the legislation; the Democrats control the Senate while Sen. Lee is a very junior Senator, not on the right committees. Moreover, he isn't up for reelection soon and is from a state that is a lock for his party, meaning there is no incentive for leaders to push the bill in order provide a victory for an incumbent at risk of losing the seat. Public attention from more prominent Senators who are the focus of media attention, however, could be expected to build broader support in the Senate. To the extent that President Obama is sympathetic to changes in accreditation (which he addressed in the 2013 State of the Union) we might see some movement on this from the Democrats as well if only to blunt a GOP campaign issue for 2016.
The main thrust of the article, BTW, is summary and criticism of the issue and Lee's proposal (unsurprisingly; Slate leans a little bit left of center though not radically so). The criticisms are nothing new to those following the issue but are a good summary of the major criticisms for those new to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment