On the recordJuly 15, 2015
Before our leader on this amendment speaks, Senator Murphy, I do want to echo what Senator Bennet said. He has been leading this charge in a bipartisan manner, pulling people together trying to get this across. I just want to echo that last point that Senator Bennet made. We as a nation have this ideal that America is the best country if you are poor to be born into; that you can make it here. This is the country--Statue of Liberty, give us your tired, your hungry, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. This is the country you can make it in. Well, unfortunately, in social mobility, which is a measurable index--the ability for somebody to make it out of poverty into the middle class--we have fallen. We have fallen on that list compared to our peers from other nations. If you just have the simple goal of making it out of poverty, America is no longer the No. 1 country to do that. The principle reason for this is that the tried and true pathway to the middle class must be the schoolhouse door. That path must lead through educational systems. If our children don't have that access or if we leave some children behind, we shut those doors to quality education. Then it is an affront to the very ideal of the American dream, and we are failing the purpose, the greatness, the glory that is America. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania. Amendment No. 2247, as modified
