On the recordNovember 16, 2011
I thank the Senator. As my colleague knows, we have a very distinguished colleague from the Senate who has now gone on to be the Secretary of the Interior of the United States, Ken Salazar. I see former attorney general and now Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut has joined us for this colloquy, and he knows Ken Salazar was the attorney general of Colorado, an attorney general with both of us. Ken grew up on a farm in Colorado that, until his generation, didn't have running water and didn't have electricity. His generation was the first generation to go to college. When I got here, he was a Senator and his brother was a Congressman. It never would have happened if it hadn't been for the Pell grant. It was the Pell grant that allowed those boys, from a faraway corner of Colorado, who were eighth-generation Americans, to be the first generation that got their foothold in college and were able to propel themselves from that to remarkable leadership of our country. It shows what ordinary Americans are capable of when the Pell grant gives them that launching pad. I appreciate that the Senator from Montana brought up the effects on Indian Country as well. I know Senator Blumenthal wishes to say a few words.
