Solomon Ortiz

Education makes children less dependent upon others and opens doors to better jobs and career possibilities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Peace Corps as it reached its 45th anniversary on March 1, 2006.

To honor our national promise to our veterans, we must continue to improve services for our men and women in uniform today and provide long overdue benefits for the veterans and military retirees who have already served.

Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.

Teachers are our greatest public servants; they spend their lives educating our young people and shaping our Nation for tomorrow.

Education should be one of our top funding priorities; talking about it does not help the teachers and students who desperately need promises fulfilled.

Education is the silver bullet to improve this Nation's standing worldwide... and our teachers know that.

I have fought to protect those benefits that ensure better salaries for teachers across the Nation such as grants to pay off student loans and funding for Teach for America. Still, we must all do more to show our continued appreciation for our Nation's leading role models.

When no other schools in the Southeastern Conference or the former Southwestern Conference would award them athletic scholarships, African Americans had been recruited by and playing for Texas Western since the 1950s.