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“NOMINATION OF MIGUEL A. CARDONA” mentioning Rand Paul was published in the Senate section on pages S887-S888 on Feb. 25.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NOMINATION OF MIGUEL A. CARDONA
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of Dr. Miguel Cardona's nomination to serve as Secretary of Education and to urge my colleagues to confirm him to this position.
Dr. Cardona will bring a deep understanding of the needs of students and teachers, a firm grasp of our educational system, and a fresh perspective to the Department of Education.
Dr. Cardona was the first in his immediate family to go to college. He is the father of two school-aged children, and he brings to this role decades of experience as an educator, having served as an elementary school teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent.
Throughout his career, Dr. Cardona has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of students. He has fought to make sure college is accessible for all students. As the education commissioner for the State of Connecticut, he was on the frontlines helping his state tackle the complex issues facing their schools during the pandemic.
In his opening statement before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Dr. Cardona reaffirmed his commitment to forging opportunity out of crisis. He also recognized the need to address educational inequities head-on and build a better future for the next generation.
He has the track record to show he understands the value of education and knows how to get things done. Under Dr. Cardona's leadership, Connecticut became the first State in the Nation to ensure that all of its public school students had access to a laptop and a high-speed internet connection to engage in remote learning during the pandemic. At another point in Dr. Cardona's career, he led a task force to help figure out how to close the academic achievement gap among students in his State.
The value of education is something that is personal to me.
My grandpa worked 1,500 feet underground in the mines of Ely, and he never graduated from high school, but he knew the value of a quality education, saving money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to college.
My dad graduated from Vermilion Community College and earned his graduate degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota. He went on to be a sports reporter and a newspaper columnist.
My mom was a public school teacher who taught second grade until she was 70 years old. She loved teaching. Her favorite unit was the monarch butterfly unit, where we would dress up as a monarch butterfly, and she would teach the kids about metamorphosis. She would also wear that monarch butterfly costume to the supermarket. She was dressed as this big monarch butterfly with little antennas on her head and a sign that said ``to Mexico or bust'' because that is where the monarch would fly on its way from Canada through Minnesota and down.
At the visitation on the night before my mom's funeral, I met a family. I had never met them before, but the mom was sobbing, and she had an older son who had a severe disability. The mom said, ``You know, your mom had my son here in school when he was in second grade. Now he was grown up, and he said he always loved that monarch butterfly unit. And after he graduated, he got a job bagging groceries, and your mom would continue to go to the grocery store and she would stand in line in her monarch butterfly outfit. For years she did this, and would always give him a big hug when she got to the end of the line.'' That was my mom, and she loved her kids, and she was a devoted teacher.
I learned the value of education from my parents and grandparents, and I believe that it is a basic right that we have in this country that every child should have a right to education. I know that Dr. Miguel Cardona also believes in that right, and this is why I support his confirmation as Secretary of Education. I will also note that several of my Republican colleagues, including Senator Burr, ranking member on the HELP Committee, have come to the same conclusion.
This past year has been like no other, filled with tremendous challenges for students, educators, and families. As a result of this pandemic, parents have had to teach their first graders how to use the mute button to go to school. The crisis has taken a toll on the mental health of students and educators. There is major work to do to make sure that all students can catch up on lost learning caused by gaps in access to technology and broadband during the pandemic.
Thankfully, there is now light at the end of the tunnel with the development and distribution of vaccines that protect against the coronavirus and stand to save millions of lives. Our country now faces important decisions about how to safely and equitably return to in-
person learning, and we need strong, thoughtful leadership to help guide these decisions and get our country back up and running. That means leadership we can trust to provide guidance that is driven by science and by public health experts. It also means leadership that will support the rights of all students to have a full and enriching educational experience.
I believe that Dr. Cardona will be a Secretary who will fight for public education, not against it; a Secretary who takes seriously the Federal Government's role in making education policy, informed by the most rigorous science; perhaps most of all, a Secretary who fosters compromise, not conflict, in addressing our Nation's many educational challenges.
As one of my mentors Senator Paul Wellstone put it, government should work to improve people's lives, and we have a lot of work to do with so many students and families in need. But I come to this Chamber today optimistic because our country has had a long and strong history of stepping up during challenging times like these. I look forward to partnering with Dr. Cardona to meet the needs of this moment and overcome the obstacles we face to support students, teachers, and schools as we work to recover from this pandemic and move forward.
With that, I ask my colleagues to support the nomination: Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education.
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