Political Quotes

“I am so happy to join my colleagues who have done a beautiful job this morning expressing the importance of Pell grants to not only the individuals and their families but to the economic vitality of our Nation. I thank Senator Whitehouse, who has taken up this as a cause. We need a champion for Pell grants. I am here to help him and to help Senator Tester, who stepped forward to be a leader as well, to say to them that when I go back to my State and check--the Senator from Connecticut knows this--when I go back to my State, what I hear is: Senator, without Pell grants, I could not make this happen. Senator, without Pell grants, my parents could not afford it. It is not the whole part of tuition, but I think, as Senator Whitehouse has said, it is the keystone, it is the cornerstone, it is the centerpiece, it is the foundation of what our students--and some of our students who are parents who are raising two and three children, holding down one or two jobs--we cannot pull that out from underneath them, I say to the Senator. We just cannot do it. Secondly, I would say I know we have to find a way to balance our budget. I just left the Go Big Conference. I am one of the ones who is standing in the middle, hoping we can come up with not a $1.2 trillion solution but a $4 trillion solution. This is tough. This is hard.…”