Political Quotes

“My reason for doing this is to say that it is not just members of the committee, it is not just Members of Congress who support the PROSPER Act. It is people who understand the situation that exists in our country and want to see us make things better for students. Mr. Speaker, I grew up extraordinarily poor, but I knew that education was my key to getting out of poverty. I had to work hard, but I also had to get credentials. In this day and time, we know that having credentials is more important than ever. So I want to say again, the PROSPER Act, which stands for Promoting Real Opportunities, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform, is a key to doing that. This will do more to help poor students get out of poverty than almost anything that I have seen in a long, long time. Every Member of Congress hears every day that employers do not have people to fill the 6 million jobs that are out there that are vacant right now. What we do with PROSPER is make it possible for 7 million more students to get Pell Grants. And part of our reason for doing that is to help students get into short-term programs that will give them skills, give them credentials, and allow them to build on those skills over time, hopefully, to create a degree. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, what we are doing with PROSPER is allowing people to be able to get to participate in short-term programs where they will gain skills that will make them employable.…”