If we are serious about providing upward mobility and building a skilled workforce, pre-school is the place to begin.

The United States is no longer first in the world in upward mobility. We can reverse that trend by giving our young children an equal start in life as they begin their journey to fulfill the American Dream.

Not every seed planted in rich soil grows, nor every seed planted in poor soil fails. That is why we need public education.

My story is the story of many postwar British families. Upward mobility. A council house and then new affluence.

The problem, gentlemen, is that Obama is right: The promise of upward mobility is dying in America, and no amount of political demagoguery will fix it.

We believe that the government has an important role to create the conditions that promote entrepreneurship, upward mobility, and individual responsibility.