[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 21, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    COMMENDING PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S PROPOSALS REGARDING HIGHER 
                               EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker and to my colleagues here in the 
great Chamber of the people's House, the House of Representatives, I 
know of no other place in the world, only in America, that a man whose 
father was a devout Muslim from Kenya, Africa, who was married to a 
white woman from the great State of Kansas--and with all due respect to 
our birther friends, this man was born in the great State of Hawaii; 
this man is none other than Barrack Hussein Obama--could become our 
President, Madam Speaker, our President of all of the United States of 
America and its territories.
  I want to share with my colleagues one of the most critical issues as 
advocated seriously by President Obama, and that is in the field of 
education.
  I commend President Obama for his commitment to providing every child 
in America access to a complete and competitive education all the way 
from cradle to career.
  In recent years, the United States has drastically fallen behind 
other countries when it comes to education. In the most recent 
Programme for International Student Assessment Report published in 
2009, researchers ranked the performance of 15-year-olds 
internationally and found that the United States ranked 17th in 
reading, 24th in science, and 30th in math. To make America competitive 
once again, Madam Speaker, President Obama has introduced several key 
initiatives that focus on early childhood education, that reform and 
invest in K 12 education and restore America's leadership in higher 
education.
  In his first major action of his Presidency, President Obama signed 
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which makes significant 
investments in education. The act included $5 billion for early 
learning programs as well as programs for children with special needs. 
The President has also introduced accountability standards for Head 
Start to ensure that early childhood programs are continuing to deliver 
quality services. In addition, nine States have also received 
approximately $500 million from the Race to the Top-Early Learning 
Challenge fund to create systems of high quality early learning and 
development programs.
  The President has also set a goal for the United States to have the 
highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020. 
To reach this goal, the President focused on K 12 teaching and 
learning. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided $77 
billion to strengthen elementary and secondary education, including 
$48.6 billion to stabilize State education budgets and to encourage 
States to ensure that all schools have highly qualified teachers, 
improve achievement in low-performing schools, and ensure college and 
career readiness.
  The President also has invested to make sure that teachers are 
supported as professionals in the classroom, while also holding them 
more accountable. Effective teachers will be rewarded, and States will 
be encouraged to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom.
  The President has also supported innovation in the classroom, such as 
the expansion of high quality charter schools, investments in the Race 
to the Top competition between States, and also providing flexibility 
for States who are looking for greater relief under the No Child Left 
Behind Act. The President also introduced the ``Educate to Innovate'' 
campaign, which is aimed to improve the participation and performance 
of America's students in science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics.
  President Obama has also introduced measures to make college more 
affordable. Under the President's leadership, the maximum Pell Grant 
amount has been raised to $5,500. The new ``Pay As You Earn'' proposal 
will also give about 1.5 million students the ability to cap their loan 
payments at 10 percent of their monthly income and allow debt 
forgiveness balance after 20 years of payments. The President's plan 
will enable an estimated 6 million students and recent college 
graduates to consolidate their loans and reduce their interest rates. 
Colleges and universities will also be rewarded based on their ability 
to offer relatively lower tuition costs and provide value to especially 
low-income students.
  Madam Speaker, if we prepare America's children with a high quality 
education, we enable them to succeed in today's global economy. 
Furthermore, our ability to educate America's children will determine 
the economic competitiveness of our great Nation. And as our President 
has recently stated, no issue will have a bigger impact on the future 
performance of our economy than education.
  Once again, Madam Speaker, I commend President Obama for his 
commitment to helping our children succeed from cradle to career. I 
thank him for his bold leadership and vision for the future of our 
children and our great Nation.

                          ____________________