Political Quotes

“Mr. President, during the last break in our schedule here in Congress in Washington, I spent 2 weeks traveling across my State-- as all of us, no doubt, did--and listening and talking to my constituents about what is on their minds, what they think we ought to be doing, and what our priorities should be. In one city, I spoke with students and teachers about the need to improve college and career readiness for historically underrepresented populations and how a piece of legislation that we have introduced with colleagues called the GEAR UP for Success Act would better serve those students. It was a little bit of a revelation for me, having come from a family where my parents expected me to go to college, and they themselves went to college, that if other children are growing up and don't have that experience--many times, their parents are not prepared to help counsel them on which courses they ought to begin to take as early as seventh grade in order to be prepared with the prerequisites to advance up the educational ladder and be ready for college, to get into the college of their choice. So that was an important piece of legislation. Certainly, working together with colleagues here, I hope we can reauthorize and fund those grants so that more of our young people can get the advantage that comes from that sort of counseling and tutoring and help.…”