Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank my colleagues, Congressman Jeffries and Congressman Horsford, for once again leading the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order. I cannot think of a more timely topic for today's Special Order as once again our youth are facing a student loan crisis. Mr. Speaker, George Washington Carver once said, ``Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.'' Nowhere is this truer in this country, where we know for a fact that access to a quality education is the ladder to a better and richer tomorrow. Providing access to education is in America's very DNA, and it goes back to when two of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, established State universities. This tradition continued in 1862 when President Lincoln signed the Morrill Land-Grant Acts to create land-grant colleges, an effort to promote higher education for working class citizens. Nearly 100 years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965, and thus the Pell Grant was created. Today, an affordable college education is more important than ever in this country's history. In the next decade, 63 percent of all jobs will require at least some post-secondary education. And in order to compete for jobs in the future, our children must be equipped and not saddled with debt. Congress has a duty to ensure that Federal education assistance is both affordable and accessible.…”