Michael Bennet

I hope we can act in a bipartisan way to create a 6-year bill.

Senator Michael Bennet introduced bi-partisan legislation last year to create a National Infrastructure Bank that proposed to provide loans at a 1% interest rate.

We should have the courtesy to maintain the infrastructure our parents and grandparents provided for us.

I am happy to support a coup, if that is what you want.

If all you cared about was the fiscal condition of the country, you would not defer maintenance that could have been dealt with at a relatively cheap price.

I very much believe in the idea of having open, transparent pieces of information as part of the accreditation process.

The customers ought to be the consumers of the higher education, who are the students and their families

I'm very glad you held this hearing because I came here wondering what the purpose of accreditation was, and now that question is even more fundamentally at issue, I think.

I'm honored this morning to introduce to the panel Dr. Peter Ewell.

Well, it's a walk but it could be done, you know. We're not that far from the Canadian border. But I would have to bet the troopers and other law enforcements are keeping a close watch at that area.

Yes, there's numerous areas different hunting camps. There's numerous areas they could be hiding.

There's a checkpoint on just about every corner within the village. The department of correction is doing most of the checking in the village and the state police are on the outskirts of the village.

Well, my main thing would be make sure you keep your properties secured and, you know, be aware of your surroundings at all times. And if you happen to see something, you know, make sure you call the state police.

If you're poor and you're smart, you have about a 10 percent chance still to graduate from college. If you're rich and you're stupid, you have a 90 percent chance

Because while the purchasing power in this country for things like television sets and bicycles and other things has grown dramatically, the percent of your income that you're going to have to spend just to hang on in college is…

We are in a global economy today that is requiring that if you want to live in a middle class family, you need some attainment north of a high school education.

If you've got that evidence, I'd love to see it.

I don't know what that is except a recipe for cementing income inequality in this country rather than relieving it.

That doesn't seem fair to me.

Our system of higher education--and I would say combined with our system of K-12 education--is conspiring to compound income inequality in this country rather than relieve income inequality in this country

The polite way of saying it, I guess, is the way Dr. Scott-Clayton has said. College attainment is increasingly becoming less equal

We have decisions to make at the State level, and we have decisions made here, and too often we don't look to see how those things are syncing up.

I mean, that is so contrary to the interests of our families and so contrary to the interests of the country.

The purchasing power that's needed to afford an average college today is dramatically higher than it was 30 years ago or 40 years ago.

Sign me up for whatever we're going to do here to figure out how we're going to reform the student financial aid program.