Douglas Alexander: “I wish to say a word about something important that happened this afternoon that is good news for the men and women in…”

“I wish to say a word about something important that happened this afternoon that is good news for the men and women in this country who go to college. We have the best system of colleges and universities in the world. I can remember Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas and Senator Frist arranged for a group of us to meet with the former President of Brazil, Mr. Cardoso, who had been at the Library of Congress for a while and was going back to Brazil. Senator Hutchison said: Mr. Cardoso, what will you take back to your country about your stay in the United States? He did not hesitate for a moment. He said: Senator Hutchison, the excellence of the American University. He said: There is nothing in the world like it. It is one of the greatest strengths of your country. There are many reasons for this. I believe it is because we have created an environment in which we can bring out the best. We have 6,000 autonomous for-profit, nonprofit, State-supported, not-State- supported institutions, and we have generous Federal funding that follows students to the college or university of their choice. That market environment has permitted us to surpass the world. We do not just have some of the best colleges and universities in the world, we have most of them, and several of those are in the home State of the Presiding Officer, in Virginia, and some of those are in my State as well.…”