him them other you have former

president bill clinton in east los angeles. way with hishis

secret service escort out of our camera range. coming up tonight at 6:30 eastern time we are going to talk to some potential vice .residential candidates we will speak with elizabeth warren and sherrod brown from ohio. that is right here on c-span. >> madam secretary, we proudly votes tof our delegate the next president of the united states.

>> this is the time of year we commencement addresses. senator jeff sessions from alabama speaking at the university of alabama in huntsville. we have more commencements later on this afternoon in c-span. [applause] senator sessions: thank you very much. i am excited to be here today this fabulous crowd and these great graduates. thank you for your exceptional leadership to this university. i'm going to talk about it a little bit because i think it is an extraordinary, exceptional thing that is occurring. and congratulations to the class of 2016. today is your day of celebration and you have earned it. -- you haveons

veryd your diploma in a special environment. the talent at this university and the greater huntsville area is unmatched by very few places on this earth. i would like to talk about it a little bit. considerable influence and our planet. -- may thatnvolves revolves around our planet. the father of the american space program. dr. von braun was voted as the second most influential person in aviation and aerospace history recently, according to aviation magazine. only the right brothers got more votes. dr. von braun was a visionary. the product of his vision can be seen everywhere.

he and his german colleagues created the huntsville symphony orchestra. rest he would of the the importance emergence of an american space program. "opportunity goes where the best people go, and the best people go where education goes." to further develop the people we academic ande environmental research of huntsville must be improved." at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, he envisioned, dr. von braun stated, "if we can produce the number one football team in the nation and number one rocket and missile center, we can just as surely establish the nation's number one education center for space and rocket technology if

we put our minds to it." while you a age is not number one quite yet, but the campus is federally funded -- astronautical engineering -- when compared with similar sized universities, you a age ranks number one in research expenditure in the nation. ua age is considered a tier one the topty, ranking in 4% of public universities in the nation. several sources, including the brookings institution have pointed out ua age graduates on average are the best paid graduates of any alabama university. and among the top 2% in the nation. good news indeed. the enrollment growth is really outstanding. it has my attention.

i enjoy watching higher education in alabama over a number of years. i doubt there is a single major university in the country that can match what dr. alvin and his team are doing. enrollmentecord for with a 45% increase in the freshman class. the average ac t score went up. a 33% increase next year. this is surely one of the best growth records if not the best of any major university in america. let's say it loud and clear. the chargers are charging. we think of how a college education -- we appreciate the on oure impacts community. students live here. they bring money with them.