Political Quotes

“First of all, I do want to thank Mr. Kline and Mr. Miller for bringing this bill to the floor, and I want to thank the staffs for working with Mr. Gowdy and me on this amendment and an amendment to follow. One of the things that brought Mr. Gowdy and me together is the concern about the cost of education, and I know that has been a major concern for the Education and the Workforce Committee. But one of the dilemmas that we have is that, if we put more money in as taxpayers-- and I am a strong supporter of more grant and more aid for our colleges--but if every dollar we put in is a dollar increase in tuition, then the students are treading water and the taxpayers are treading water. So what are some of the things that we can do to try and help give the flexibility to our institutions of higher learning the ability to actually accelerate graduation and, therefore, help potentially lower the cost? Mr. Gowdy outlined what this competency-based learning amendment would do. It would reward students who have some ambition and get started early. It would allow college administrators to properly give credit for that serious effort on the part of students, and it might help reverse what has been a trend where a lot of students are taking more than 4 years to graduate and allow them the opportunity with their effort and discipline to graduate in less than 4 years.…”