Political Quotes

“Let me just underscore the points the Senator from Massachusetts made that I did not make in my opening remarks. This bill affects dropouts, and we have to reach these young people one way or another. We had a very interesting series of witnesses, young people who came in and testified. One young man from the Boston area, who had been a gang member and was brought back in through this kind of an opportunity and is planning on going to college, said he wanted to become a lawyer. I asked him what percentage of the gang members in the gang that he belonged to would, if they had this kind of an opportunity, drop their membership in the gang and come back to school and seize an opportunity? And he said, ``I think half of them would.'' Now that is just one young man who had been a member of the gang. But this is a program that can reach dropouts and really can be a constructive force in our society. I hope we move ahead on it.”