Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, ranking member of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, issued this statement following today’s policy committee deadline:

“The House sent over 29 bills this session and of those 29 bills this committee only managed to pass four. This is a disservice to Washington families in school districts across our state. Most of these bills were passed by the House with a bipartisan majority and considered noncontroversial, and yet the Republican chair of this committee refused to bring them up for a vote.

“Instead of passing policy bills that would benefit our children, the Republican chair of this committee decided to bring everything to a standstill by adopting D.C.-style tactics of political gridlock, or more simply stated, a government shutdown. As a result, homeless students will not receive the assistance they need and the educational opportunity gap will continue to widen.

“Sometimes down here in Olympia, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the political circus that surrounds us. But at the end of the day, our actions, or in this case our inactions, have a direct impact on real people. Today, I am deeply saddened for our children, some of whom have nowhere to sleep at night, who will not receive the help and assistance they need because of political game playing.

“In a year when education is considered to be the most important issue facing the Legislature, the Senate education committee chair chose to do nothing, despite repeated requests to move the bills.

“Meanwhile in the House, over half of the bills the Senate sent over have been passed out of the House Education Committee.”