[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 28, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S1646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         EDUCATIONAL INVESTMENT

  Mr. DODD. I want to address a question to our colleague from New York 
and also my colleague from Vermont. What I am about to say is also 
something he has talked about in the past. We are often told we are now 
in a period of international crisis and that resources cannot really be 
allocated as much as we would like for education given these other 
demands.
  Certainly my colleagues are aware, historically, some of the most 
significant investments we have made as a nation in terms of education 
have occurred right in the midst of some of our most significant crises 
as a country.
  In 1787, shortly after the American Revolution, at a time when there 
was great demand for resources, we insisted that land be set aside in 
new territories, specifically the Federal Government did, for 
institutions of higher learning. Right in the middle of the Civil War, 
there was the Morrill Act, authored by a Senator from Vermont, that 
created the land grant colleges. Here we were in the greatest crisis in 
the history of the United States, and yet the Congress and the 
President in the midst of all of that believed we ought to be doing 
everything we could to establish land grant colleges.
  Then, of course, prior to the end of World War II, the GI bill is 
another example. Here is a nation at war and demand for resources are 
great; our Nation is in peril, although it was toward the end of the 
war. Yet the Congress and the President thought it was so critically 
important that we allocated resources for furthering the advancement of 
higher education.
  I don't know if my colleagues would like to briefly respond to that 
point.
  Mrs. CLINTON. I would respond in support of the observations that the 
Senator from Connecticut has made. It is deeply troubling to me that in 
the current atmosphere in which we find ourselves, the first victim 
seems to be the future.
  We are shortchanging the future and, in particular, we are 
shortchanging our children. I don't believe any previous generation of 
Americans, as the Senator has illustrated, has ever done this before. 
We are about to become the first generation that deliberately, 
intentionally, will leave our children worse off than we were.
  I find that absolutely mind-boggling. I cannot even grasp it. We talk 
about our parents, the greatest generation, who sacrificed, who planned 
for the future, who made big investments in education, in highways, in 
research and development, in infrastructure, in health care, and here 
we are about to dismantle the work they so carefully put into place, 
starting with education but by no means ending there.
  It is a moment of real concern and should be talked about, not just 
in this Chamber but throughout our country. What is it exactly we 
intend to leave our children besides a more dangerous world and a pile 
of debt?
  Mr. DODD. I thank my colleague for her answer. She is absolutely 
correct. It would be a unique and historic tragedy if we were the first 
generation to not fulfill its obligations to the coming generation.
  I said the Homestead Act. It was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that 
was an example of a country in crisis that still found time to invest 
in its educational needs. I don't know if my colleague from Vermont 
wanted to comment on that as well. It was Senator Morrill from Vermont 
who created the land grant colleges. The University of Connecticut was 
one of the beneficiaries of that idea. Right in the middle of the Civil 
War, Abraham Lincoln and the Congress said: We ought to be investing in 
the educational needs of the Nation, and authored that legislation. I 
know my colleague from Vermont has spoken eloquently for and fought for 
higher education. I thought he might want to comment on those 
decisions.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Vermont is proud of the fact that it has provided 
leadership throughout the centuries, and the Morrill Act did more for 
expanding the ability of education for our young people to strengthen 
this Nation than any other action that has been taken since.
  I thank the Senator for bringing up the history, especially relative 
to my own State.

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