The Next American Century

Floor Speech

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Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak
briefly about two aspects of the President's budget that really struck
me and a number of my constituents in Philadelphia and Montgomery
County as so important.

As a new Member, it has been a special honor to be serving in this
Chamber, and I have had a few incredibly special moments that all
Americans can identify with. One is the swearing-in of a new Congress,
something that dates back to right after our First Congress was sworn
in right after the U.S. Constitution was signed in Philadelphia. One of
those other moments--a constitutionally mandated moment--is
when the President comes to Congress to give a report on the state of
the Union from time to time, as the Constitution says.

Sitting right here in this Chamber and hearing President Obama speak
about the state of our Union would be exciting in any year, in any
circumstance, but it was especially this year because, for the first
time in 6 years--after the deepest and darkest recession in almost a
century--we have turned the page. After 6 rather difficult years of
digging our way out of a ditch, we now can build a foundation to move
forward. With that, there were two areas specifically that the
President focused on.

One was a universal college education. As the first of my family to
go to college, I know I wouldn't have had the opportunities that I have
had in life without having a higher education. I needed a combination
of scholarships and student loans and every sort of work-study job
imaginable to get there, as well as help from parents and even
grandparents. That is a story similar to so many working and middle
class Americans, but for too many Americans today the cost of a higher
education is simply unaffordable.

The question is: Do you go without it at all even though two-thirds
of the jobs by the end of this decade will require some form of a
higher education? Do you just forgo a higher education altogether, or
do you take on tens of thousands in student loans and then be burdened
with paying back that debt upon graduation? Either scenario is far from
ideal.

What the President said--and I completely agree--is let's make 2
years of community college universal and free in this country. Now,
that may be unthinkable today. 100 years ago, it was unthinkable that a
free, fully funded high school education would be universal. Yet, for
us, that is the reality today. It would be unthinkable for Americans of
my age and even of an older age to imagine a time in which high school
was not universal. Let's get there with 2 years of a college education.

The second area the President focused on was the child care tax
credit. For so many working families and young families, affording
child care is simply unaffordable. We have an opportunity through this
budget to change that, to build on the successes of the last 6 years
and to finally prepare to make this century the second American
Century. Ensuring that we have good, high-quality, affordable child
care is vital to this middle class.

The reason the last century was the American Century was that we had
the largest and most productive middle class in the world. Access to
higher education and access to child care are two necessary ingredients
in making sure we have a strong and vibrant middle class in the 21st
century.

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