Political Quotes

“let me start my remarks by saying that I appreciate all the hard work the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Porter] has put into this package. Funding for crucial health care programs was increased over last year and I fully support those efforts. However, I think we could have done more for higher education. We can all argue the merits of Federal education funding versus State education funding, but maintaining access to higher education is a crucial role of the Federal Government. We need to ensure that our students who have the ability can continue to attend the best higher education facilities in the world. If we continue to decrease our commitment to higher education students, our schools will decline and our colleges and universities will be for the rich, not the best and brightest. This bill eliminates the State student incentive program. This bill eliminates capital contributions to the Perkins loan program. This bill increases the maximum Pell grant by a little over 1 percent, not even keeping up with inflation. We need to do better, and I think we can.”