Arne Duncan

to think that we would walk away from funding for the children of servicemembers who are risking their lives every single day overseas and somehow say we'd give less funding to those children's schools is inconceivable to me.

We hoped that the prospect of deep, indiscriminate, across-the-board cuts would spur the Congress to take a balanced approach to deficit reduction.

[t]he power of the data [CRDC] is not only in the numbers themselves, but in the impact it can have when married with the courage and the will to change. The undeniable truth is that the everyday educational experience for many students of…

If we were to have 200,000 children lose access to Head Start that is nothing positive about that.

I have to tell you, Chairman--Mr. Chairman, that as I thought about doing this I talked to probably 44 or 45 governors from around the country and, again, all across the political spectrum, and every single one said this is the right thing…

Having that interest rate double in July through congressional inaction to me is not acceptable.

we want to make sure that young people have access to Pell Grants. And we are concerned that we have, you know, budgets being considered that would significantly reduce access to Pell Grants.

This is common-sense legislation that will open the doors of postsecondary education to thousands of deserving young people.

It goes against the basic American sense of fairness to deny them opportunities because of the choices made by their parents.

It is an issue of fairness. Thousands of young people have worked hard, but they are being denied the chance to build a better future.

It is an issue of economic prosperity. By offering these young people the chance to earn a college degree, we are helping them establish their own economic security.

We have to educate our way to a better economy. That is the only way we are going to get there.