To the best of my recollection, and the recollection of senior Finance Committee staff, that is a new record. Since this is our first legislative hearing under my chairmanship, I'm pleased to see this much interest, off the committee, in an important issue for the Finance Committee. This record number of senator witnesses is a signal of the importance of these education-related tax cuts. Also, preliminarily, since so many of you want to testify, as a courtesy to your colleagues on the panels, I'm going to ask you to limit your testimony to three minutes. As our Founding Fathers made very clear, an educated populous is the very foundation on which a self-governing nation sits.
Education is the ticket to prosperity in America.
No matter what an individual's background they can achieve a better future. Without education, the doors to the future are closed to them. We must ensure that every student who has worked to gain entrance into an institution of higher learning has the wherewithal to fund it. Affordable education must be a priority ahead of the government's needs. Any other priority for which we intend to tax American citizens must be secondary to their educational pursuits.