Ed Pastor

Mr. Speaker, first of all, congratulations on your retirement and the best of luck. I thank you for your friendship while I served in Congress.

I stand in support of this bill, and I want to congratulate both my dear friends, the ranking member, Nita Lowey, and the chairman, Harold Rogers, for working many hours on this bill. I am very happy that as we are about to close this session, that we are working on a bill that will keep our government funded and bring some tranquility to the economy of our country for the remainder of fiscal year 2015. I thank them for doing fine work.

Over the past 23 years that I have had the honor of being in Congress, for 21 of those years I served on the Appropriations Committee. It was a great opportunity for me and an honor for me to serve with various members on Appropriations to do the best we could to serve our country. Many of us would not have been able to produce the bills and provide for the services without the staff on both sides of the aisle that worked on these appropriations bills.

So today, I want to congratulate the current chairman, the ranking member, and thank Chairman Tom Latham for the work he did on the Transportation-HUD bill. And also, it is time for me to thank all of my colleagues for their help and service that they have given this country and the kindness they have shown to me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments and the impact of Helios Education Foundation on the success of all students in Arizona and Florida. I also want to congratulate Helios Education Foundation on celebrating 10 years of changing lives and strengthening our communities through education.

Helios Education Foundation was created in 2004 through the sale and conversion of Southwest Student Services Corporation led by a visionary President and CEO, Vince Roig, and Board of Directors. At the time of the sale, Southwest Student Services was the eighth largest holder of federally-insured student loans in the country. The net proceeds of that sale were used to create the Foundation's initial endowment of $525 million.

Since that time and in perpetuity, the Foundation has and continues to be focused on its ultimate goal of creating opportunities for every individual in Arizona and Florida to succeed in postsecondary education. Helios is investing its knowledge, expertise and resources to advance student academic preparedness and to foster college-going cultures in both states.

It's through a decade of strategic partnerships and investments that Helios has identified Early Grade Success, College and Career Readiness, and Postsecondary Completion as the three most critical reform priorities needed to ensure student success. In Early Grade Success, Helios is working to ensure that all children enter kindergarten prepared to succeed and read at grade level by the end of third grade. In College and Career Readiness, the Foundation strives to ensure that all high school graduates are prepared to enter the workforce or credit-bearing college courses. And, the organization's work in Postsecondary Completion is focused on helping more traditionally underserved students access, persist and attain a high- quality postsecondary certificate or degree.

Helios Education Foundation believes that education is an investment and not an expense and has invested over $155 million in educational initiatives across the full education continuum. To that end, the Foundation has supported the college-going aspirations of more than 135,000 students, provided more than 8,000 scholarships for postsecondary education and provided professional development and training for more than 16,000 educators. Through these and future investments, Helios is laying the foundation for the ongoing

economic viability of our communities and paving the way for our students to compete and succeed in a global workforce.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Helios Education Foundation for serving our communities, and in particular, I commend its Founder and Chairman, Vince Roig, for his passion and commitment to this work. In addition, I congratulate Helios Education Foundation's Board of Directors and Staff for the tangible and critical impact the Foundation has had over the past 10 years. Most importantly, I am excited about the long-lasting and transformative change Helios Education Foundation will have on our community in perpetuity through education.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 445 and 446, I was delayed at the office. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''