Pelosi Remarks Before Meeting with Big Ten University Presidents

Pelosi Remarks Before Meeting with Big Ten University Presidents

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. â€" Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a photo opportunity with the Big Ten university presidents ahead of their meeting this afternoon in the Capitol to discuss the economic recovery package. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

â€Å"This is a special occasion for us indeed. Congressman George Miller, the Chair of the Education and Labor Committee, and I would like to welcome the leadership of the Big Ten universities to the Capitol of the United States.

â€Å"I am very pleased that under the auspices of my good friend, President Henry Bienen of Northwestern, we can welcome the other leaders of our great academic institutions.

â€Å"Though some may already know them as the Big Ten football powerhouses, they are powerhouses in research and academics as well. You may not know that Big Ten schools earned more that $3.7 billion dollars â€" in federal research dollars last year â€" and produce 12 percent of our nation's PhDs.

â€Å"To support research and make college more affordable, we are very pleased with the work that was done in our economic recovery package. We invested $15 billion dollars in basic scientific and biomedical research, boosted the maximum Pell Grant to $5,350 this year, and $5,550 next year.

â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Miller â€" for your insistence in providing $200 million dollars for college work study. Thank you Mr. Miller for your leadership.

â€Å"We thank the Big Ten for providing our country with groundbreaking research and innovators who will make America more competitive in the global economy.

â€Å"With that, I'd like to yield to the distinguished Henry Bienen, who is President of Northwestern University.”