Political Quotes

“I remember in the 1980s, traveling to several of the historically-- and they referred to them as ``historically Black colleges'' in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I noticed the absence of so much infrastructure in these struggling institutions that other institutions often had in abundance. Having had an engineering background myself, at my old school, Washington Lee University, we had laboratories with an abundance of equipment and all types of high technology. I suppose at that time the thoughts in my mind led toward this day, and it has been a long climb up the mountain--not by just this Senator from Virginia but by many, many Senators. I remember Senator Cleland was very interested in this, former Senator Cleland, Max Cleland of Georgia, and my colleague and former Senator George Allen of Virginia. Fortunately, today, with the two managers of this bill, the chairman and ranking member of this important committee, the HELP Committee, and with the help of many others and the primary cosponsor, the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kerry, and my colleague from my State, Senator Webb, we are here this afternoon to present this amendment.”