Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for their support and their enthusiasm for this bill. Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of H.R. 4481, the Education for All Act, which I introduced earlier this year with our colleague David Reichert. Today, millions of American children are settling into new classrooms and getting back in the swing of their school routines. Despite the challenges many students and schools face, it is hard for us to imagine this time of year not being occupied with the excitement of new school supplies, teachers, and school sporting events. Unfortunately, the ability to access education at all remains a luxury in too many areas around the world. In fact, in 2014, 263 million children, adolescents, and youth were not in school. Our own U.S. Agency for International Development has reported: The world is in the midst of a global learning crisis. As of 2014, an estimated 25 million children were never expected to enroll in school, and 758 million adults could not read or write a simple sentence. Women and girls represent two-thirds of these staggering figures. Even daring to attend school requires taking life- threatening risk for girls in many regions. Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban in Pakistan at the age of 15 for attending school and advocating for other girls to do so. Hundreds of girls have been kidnapped by Boko Haram for seeking a basic education and still remain hostage.…”