Political Quotes

“I rise to speak to the permanent solution that is being put forward on a bipartisan basis today, which is the Student Loan Certainty Act. Again, I wish to emphasize that this is a bipartisan solution. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia; Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee; Senator Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina; and Senator Angus King, an Independent from Maine--I guess tripartisan, right? This is truly a bipartisan effort, including the support of Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, myself, and others. This is a bipartisan effort to come up with a permanent solution. I have been listening to the floor debate and what everybody says over and over is we need a permanent solution, and that is exactly right. A year ago I served on the conference committee for MAP 21 which is the authorization for the highway program. We included in that conference report an extension, a 1-year reauthorization, of the Federal student loan program. So we could do what? Put a permanent solution in place--not come here a year later and extend it again for a year. So that is what the vote at noon is all about. It is yet another 1- year extension. We need to put a permanent solution in place. Our bipartisan plan is simple and straightforward. It provides students with dependable low-cost financing on a long-term basis.…”