Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for his extraordinary leadership on this issue, which is important to Rhode Island, but really important to students all across our country. I think one of the things that has struck me during this debate about this issue in the last several weeks as we've tried to bring attention to this issue is that this is really a moment in the history of our country where we need to recognize--maybe more than anytime at least in my lifetime--the urgency of investing in education and of ensuring that young people have access to a quality education. The idea that we're in a position to prevent interest rates from doubling for those who are benefiting from Stafford loans and that this Congress seems poised not to do anything about it, to me, is, as you said, unconscionable. There was a report that was done recently, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. They found that over the period from 2008 to 2018, about 47 million job openings will be created; and of that, more than 30 million of these jobs will require at least some level of postsecondary education. So this is the reality for our country, that we have got to realize if we're going to create jobs and be sure that we have young people who have the skills necessary to fill those jobs in this new knowledge economy of the 21st century, we have to make it easier for people to access higher education, not more difficult.…”