Political Quotes

“I say to Senator Blumenthal, one of the things that has taken place is that the value to the individual student of the Pell grant has actually declined quite a lot over the years since it was first initiated. When the first Pell grants came out, they paid for nearly three- quarters of the typical 4-year public college tuition; 72 percent of that tuition. Now they are down to 32 percent; less than one-third. So there is a lot of room to increase what we can spend on Pell grants. I think it is pretty clear from what the Senator has said and from what Senator Tester has said that once someone is college educated, they step into a different economy with a top unemployment rate through this awful recession of below 5 percent, they step into a whole new set of opportunities, and they step into opportunities that have a higher income potential for them, all of which redounds back to the benefit of our country in higher revenues, in a stronger economy, and in more innovation and economic development. So we are going in the wrong direction is the way I would respond, and it is time, instead of doing what the Republicans in the House have suggested, which is to go even further in the wrong direction, even potentially eliminating this grant, calling it welfare, for Pete's sake--remember Amber. This is a woman with two children, working full time and going to school and what enables her to tie that together--the last piece, the keystone in the arch--is the Pell grant.…”