Political Quotes

“I rise to express my disappointment in today's earlier vote, that we weren't able to pass the student refinancing legislation. I thank my colleague Senator Warren for sponsoring that bill and for my colleagues who did support it. I hope we will have a chance to bring up this legislation again, get bipartisan support, and get it passed. We can agree education is the gateway to opportunity. I was first in my family to go to college and went to school with the help of financial aid, and I know how important it is to many in the State of Washington that we help them make education more affordable. Student debt in this Nation quadrupled over the past 10 years, so the total amount of debt is $1.2 trillion. Many students in my State are anxious about this situation and they want to do something about it. Over the past 4 years student debt has even surpassed credit card debt. So when we think about that, the fact that student debt is enough to pay every American's credit card balance and still have $450 billion left over tells us how much debt is being accumulated on behalf of students just to get an education, just to basically make their way in a changing economy. We do live in an information age, and it means that everybody having a good base education and being able to adapt--as new information comes along that changes industry--is going to be critically important.…”