Tom Harkin: “The point I made in the committee the other day was that, after World War II we had a similar situation. The national…”

“The point I made in the committee the other day was that, after World War II we had a similar situation. The national debt was 110 percent of our gross national product--110 percent. Today, it is about 70 percent. Our debt is about 70, 75 percent of our gross national product. They say we have to reduce our debt. I agree with that. The same situation confronted us in World War II. Did we stick our head in the sand and say no, we have to hunker down? No. We have to invest and invest in education. We have got all the GI's. We did not loan them money. We gave them money. We built student housing all over the country for them to live in. As the Senator from Massachusetts said, they paid this country back to the tune of 8 to 1. And it spurred the greatest economic growth this country has ever seen. So, you want to get out of debt in this country? We better start investing in education. We are now reaping the harvest of the seeds that we have failed to plant over the last 30 years.”