Political Quotes

“most Members of Congress come to this life experience with previous life experiences. Many times, they are motivated by something that they have lived through or witnessed. I have seen it time and time again, whether we are talking about a commitment to help certain people, such as the disabled, or to cure a certain disease, whether it is mental illness or cancer or heart disease; you find that many of our colleagues in the Senate and the House really rise to the occasion and show great devotion and commitment to these issues because they have seen them, they understand them. Well, we all come here with many life experiences. The one that I had as a young man was repeated many times over. After growing up in East St. Louis, IL, and going for a year to a good university, St. Louis University, I decided I had to go out of my home, go away to school. That is what college was all about. I went home to my mom who was a widow at the time, and told her of my plan. She said: How could you afford it? I said: Don't worry, I have it all under control. Well, Mr. President, I was making it up. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. I went to school here in Washington, at Georgetown University, and worked hard during the school year and the summer and saved up money to help pay expenses, and I also took out student loans. Were it not for the National Defense Education Act, I could never have finished college and law school.…”