Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of House Resolution 1472, expressing support for designation of the week of September 13, 2010, as National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. Illiteracy is a nationwide problem. According to a recent report, nearly one out of two adults is illiterate, without the minimum skills required in today's society. Unfortunately, many adults in this country cannot read a newspaper or fill out a job application. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 93 million U.S. adults have ``basic'' and ``below basic'' literacy skills. Department of Education studies have also found that adults living in poverty were more likely to have lower than average literacy scores than adults with higher incomes. Half of the adults who did not have a high school diploma performed in the ``below basic'' levels. Seniors and the elderly over age 65 had the lowest average literacy scores of any range, with 64 percent performing in the ``basic'' and ``below basic'' levels. And the more than 1 million incarcerated adults in the Nation had lower average literacy scores than adults in households on nearly every comparable scale. Literacy skills impact every aspect of adult life.…”