Political Quotes

“Madam President, yesterday our colleagues on the other side of the aisle stopped the Senate from reducing the enormous burden of debt that students take on. At a time when college is more expensive than ever, this body's inaction will increase each student's borrowing costs by about $1,000 for each year of college. And that is no small amount for most American families. That is because on July 1 the interest rate on new subsidized Stafford loans is expected to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. We have been talking about this all day. The students who qualify for these loans are from middle-class and low-income families. If the Senate does not act soon, we will make it even harder for them to receive the education and training they need for jobs in this 21st century economy. High school students and adults looking for new career opportunities realize how economically necessary it is to attend college. In my generation, if you had a high school degree, you could get a good manufacturing job that paid a decent wage and gave you health care and a pension. Today we need postsecondary training and strong computer math skills to operate the equipment in most manufacturing facilities. But it is not just manufacturing, it is many of the fastest growing jobs in the United States--it is computer jobs and health care jobs. A high school diploma is simply no longer a ticket to a job that pays family-supporting wages.…”