Political Quotes

“I want to try to make sure that all the American people and all Members of Congress understand the greatest problem facing this Nation, and I repeat, the greatest problem facing this Nation. It is illiteracy and functional literacy. There are those in the chamber and out in the public who will say, Well, that is a local problem. There are others that will say, Well, that is a State problem. I want Members to understand it is neither a local problem nor a state problem, it is a national problem. Our survival as a great Nation will depend on whether we can attack the problem and whether we can solve the problem. Let me just point out a few statistics from the National Adult Literacy Survey. Forty to 44 million out of 190 million adults demonstrate the lowest basic literacy skills. Approximately 50 million adults have skills on the next higher level of proficiency. Forty-two percent of all adults who demonstrate the lowest basic literacy skills are living in poverty. Adults in prison are far more likely than those in the general population to perform in the two lowest levels of literacy. Seventy percent of prisoners scored in the two lowest levels.”