Politics & Government

Blumenthal Tours MCC, Talks Debt Ceiling [Video]

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal paid a visit to Manchester Community College on Monday to talk about the important rolls that community colleges play in helping the nation invest in its future, but all students wanted to talk about was the debt ceiling.

On a day when stocks toppled around the globe due to Standard and Poor’s downgrade of the United State's credit rating, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal stopped by Manchester Community College Monday to talk politics and education.

Blumenthal, Connecticut’s junior senator, came for a tour of the college and to speak with teachers, administrators and students about college readiness programs, including a program MCC offers to transition returning veterans to the classroom.

But an impromptu visit to a classroom turned into a discussion on the recently enacted deal to raise the federal debt ceiling in exchange for a variety of cuts in federal spending.

Find out what's happening in Stamfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Several students wanted to know what exactly the argument was all about, and why it dragged on for as long as it did. 

Blumenthal, who said he would try and answer that question impartially, replied, “We were arguing about what should be the condition for raising the debt ceiling.”

Find out what's happening in Stamfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Democrat said that unlike some of his colleagues on Capitol Hill, he was not opposed to lowering the nation’s long term debt through new tax revenue, and that he favored “smart cuts in spending” that would not hurt programs that many in the Middle Class relied on, such as the Pell Grant, a federally funded program that provides secondary education tuition assistance to students in financial need.

“I have opposed those cuts to the Pell Grant and federal aid that will enable each of you to go to college,” Blumenthal said. “I’m opposed to those ‘stupid cuts.’ We need ‘smart cuts’ in spending. For example, we waste a lot of money now on certain kinds of medical costs.”

A student wondered why the debt ceiling debate was such an issue, when she and many others she knew were struggling just to find or keep their jobs or a way to pay for college, and that she was concerned by some of the cuts in education spending proposed in some of the deficit reduction scenarios that had been discussed.

“If what we need to improve our country is more education and more learning, why are we lowering the budgets of schools?” she asked Blumenthal, citing an example of a couch she bought recently at Bob’s Discount Furniture for more than $1,000 but that she paid very little taxes on. If Bob's were taxed a little higher on the cost of the couch, she reasoned, maybe schools might not need to be cut so severely. 

Blumenthal, who joked that the student should accompany him to Washington and explain that to some of his colleagues in Congress, said that education and training were “great investments” in the United States future, and that community colleges played an important role in helping to make education and training affordable for all.

“We all know that education and training are a great investment, they’re a great investment for you, and they are a great investment for the future of this country,” Blumenthal said. “And the future of this country has always depended on smart investments and education and opportunity.”

Shaquanda Peterson, a first-year student at MCC, thanked Blumenthal for his visit and for taking the time to listen to “real people” and “real problems.”

“I thank you for coming here to talk to us about the real issues of the United States, not just through a TV,” Peterson said.

Afterwards, Michael Meotti, a former state legislature and the newly appointed interim president of the state’s Board of Regents of Higher Education, which oversees Connecticut’s community college network, said he thought it was important for lawmakers like Blumenthal to visit community colleges so they could see firsthand the type of educational opportunities they provide, as well as the issues they have to contend with.

“I think it’s really important for people who are among the nations leaders, like he is, to understand the realities that face the different types of higher education around the country,” Meotti said. “If you spend all your time in Washington, D.C., you can sort of get carried away with this image of the elite universities, the Harvards and Yales and that kind of stuff, and not realize that the vast majority of Americans who are continuing their education after high school are doing it in their backyard.”

“They’re not living in their dorms, they’re commuting; they’re not just 18, 19 and 20 years old, they’re all ages, and they are pursuing the types of programs that are offered here at Manchester Community College,” Meotti continued. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here