On the recordAugust 2, 2010
I rise tonight to speak about a topic we speak to on a regular basis, but, frankly, we don't speak about it enough in terms of the priority we should place upon it. That, of course, is the issue and the priority we place upon the children of America. We talk, as we often do in Washington, about how important our children are, but we don't speak about or act in a concerted effort to address some of the most urgent needs of our children, especially in a time of recession. Fortunately, we are recovering. We have a very high unemployment rate. We have 15 million Americans out of work. In my home State of Pennsylvania, there are more than 591,000 people out of work. But we are recovering. Within a recession, in a time of horrific nightmare, really, for a lot of families, the ones who pay the price in a very severe and substantial way are the children of America. We speak tonight about how they are getting through this recession, how we get them through the shadows of this recession so that we can do everything we can to make sure they are healthy, safe, and ready to learn. I believe--and I think this is true of most Americans--that every child born in America is born with a light inside them. For some children, because of their circumstances--their family background or other advantages they have--that light inside them is boundless, blinding. You can't even see the reach of it.
