Susan Collins: “I rise today to comment on two of the amendments that I am pleased to join my colleagues in cosponsoring. First, let me…”

“I rise today to comment on two of the amendments that I am pleased to join my colleagues in cosponsoring. First, let me acknowledge the hard work of Senator Specter and Senator Harkin in shaping this bill. There are so many important priorities. They have done a very good job. The amendments I have cosponsored have to do with education spending. First, I think it is important that all of the Members of this body acknowledge and recognize that under President Bush's leadership we have invested unprecedented amounts of Federal funding to improve the education of our children. We should never forget that fact. In fact, President Bush's budgets are 60 percent higher for education funding than the budgets presented under President Clinton. Nevertheless, there are a couple of areas where I think we can do even better and make a real difference. Amendment No. 1566 For this reason, I have been very pleased to join my colleague from Massachusetts in offering an amendment to the bill to provide additional funding for higher education. Our system of higher education is in many ways the envy of the world, but its benefits today have not been distributed equally to all Americans. As tuition rises, the road to higher education in America gets steeper and harder to climb for low- and middle-income families.”