Political Quotes

“I rise today to talk about where we are right now procedurally in the Senate on the issue of student loan debt and the interest rates that we charge those who take out Stafford loans, but also the larger question of student loan debt and how we make the highway, the pathway, to higher education for America's students clearer, fairer, and more predictable. Yates once said that education is not the filling of an empty bucket but the lighting of a fire. Educating our young people is one of the most important things we do as a society. In lighting the fire of curiosity, imagination, enthusiasm, entrepreneurship, and creativity, particularly higher education is one of the things that distinguishes the United States from many other countries around the world. We have long had an enormous advantage in having one of the world's greatest educational systems. As the occupant of the chair knows, in Vermont and in Delaware today there are so many working families who deeply question whether the pathway toward higher education for their children will be as predictable, fair, and straight as it has been for past generations. When I meet with business owners, innovators, job creators, they deliver the same message: They have jobs. They are ready to hire people who have the education and the skills they need to compete and participate in the modern economy.…”