[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4382]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      DEMOCRATS STAND FOR SECURITY

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, quite to the contrary, 
Democrats today stood for real security. We stood for the transitioning 
of Iraq's security to the Iraqi Government, as has been promised by 
this administration.
  We have stood for the equipping of our soldiers. We have stood for 
energy security. And today, of course, proudly we have stood for 
ensuring that our veterans were cared for. So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that 
America sees the direction that we want to take this country and join 
us.
  Tomorrow, I will be unavoidably detained. I wanted to mention H.R. 
609, the College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005. I had wished that 
we could have supported this legislation, but I think it is important 
for America's students to know that the average tuition and fees for 4-
year public colleges has risen over 40 percent since 2001.
  This bill does nothing to allow our students to afford college. I, 
however, will have an amendment as this bill goes to conference to 
increase the Pell Grant maximum to $7,000 from $6,000, and to provide 
support for our visually impaired students who need to have Braille 
textbooks to be able to survive.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that we will eventually be able to support 
legislation that will help our college students in the future.

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