was the principal author of the Ed-Flex bill, which encouraged states to seek innovative approaches to education. Roemer was the chief sponsor of the "Transition to Teaching" bill that helped address teacher shortages by recruiting and training professionals to become teachers. Roemer was also the lead sponsor of the five-year reauthorization of Higher Education Act, which reduced interest rates on student loans, increased Pell Grants, increased funding for teacher training, and expanded aid to families. Tim Roemer was a principal sponsor of the AmeriCorps national service program, and a co-author of a bill to expand Head Start services to provide childcare coverage for women moving from welfare to work. He co-wrote legislation on reauthorizing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and wrote an amendment to tax relief legislation for teacher certification of professionals in outside fields. He co-authored "School-to-Work" legislation to help non-college-bound high school students learn skills to prepare them for the workforce. In his final term in Congress, Roemer was instrumental in passing the No Child Left Behind Act and pushed for full funding for the program. Roemer was one of the first members of Congress to call for a Cabinet-level federal executive department to oversee national security, and was an original sponsor of the legislation to create the Department of Homeland Security. Eventually he opposed the revisions proposed by the Bush administration, because of concerns about bureaucratic inefficiencies, and voted against the creation of DHS. Roemer advocated a "civilian reserve corps" to train more fluent speakers in foreign languages for the Intelligence Community. Roemer was an original sponsor of bioterrorism legislation and legislation aimed at creating the 9/11 Commission, upon which he later served. Post-electoral career Tim Roemer was appointed as a member of the 9/11 Commission to investigate the terrorist attacks on the US. He was a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee (gaining the support of Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid). He lost to Howard Dean, who had unsuccessfully sought the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. Roemer was criticized as too conservative for the post, due to his anti-abortion stance and his oft-mentioned vote in 1993 against the President Bill Clinton economic plan. Roemer is a moderate Democrat, voting more liberally on some foreign policy issues and conservatively on social issues. Roemer endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries and campaigned vigorously for him, particularly in his home state of