Date: 2007-01-17
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Speaker. I would hope that the House would turn down this motion to recommit because if you dont. there is going to be an awful lot of people who are going to be terribly disappointed. This motion as presented today would knock almost a million students out of the benefits of this legislation. the benefits of a reduced interest rate on their college loans. This motion if it is accepted would mean that families that might have one. two or maybe three kids in college. if they earn more than $68.000. they wouldnt get the benefits of this program. This amendment. as offered and if it is accepted. means that perhaps a firefighter who is married to a teacher or teachers who are married to one another would not be able to get the benefits of this program for their families. Is that what we want to do? Is that what we really want to do? We knock a million of the 5.5 million beneficiaries off eligibility for this interest rate reduction? Do we want to knock off families that may have more than one child in college off of this ability to benefit from the interest reduction? Do we want to take middleclass families. where a teacher might be married to a firefighter or teacher married to a nurse. and say to them. you are not eligible for this? I dont think you want to do. and I certainly know that the Congress doesnt want to do that. This is aimed. based upon income. the cost of the institution you go to. the number of children in your family. income determinate. you get a subsidy. What they want to do now is put a cap on the income of about $65.000. which means if you have more than one child or two children in college. you still have the income cap and you cant get help. So we are sending a message that you can help make your first child. but not the second child? That is what we are going to tell families? Their income didnt go up. but their cost just went up because another child is eligible for college? YXnother child said. I want to go to college. The family has to say. We cant help you because there is a cap. That is why this is called the subsidized loan program. because we recognize there are people within the middle class. at the lower end of the middle class who need this help. Two and a half million of the recipients are eligible for Pell. They are going to get this help. That is what this is designed for. This is designed for those families in the middle class that need this kind of interest rate help and is designed for those in Pell who still need additional money to go to school. That is why we picked this category of people. But to now tell hardworking Americans because of a cap you pulled out of the sky in the last 5 minutes that they cant help their children with the cost of education. that they are not eligible for this subsidy of cutting the interest rate from 6.8 to 3.4 percent. I dont get it. I dont understand it. and I dont think the Congress should support it. I dont think that is the message that we want to send to those working families. I dont think that is what we want to do. You think of your districts and you think of somebody with a family income of $65.000. and you start thinking who you are telling. you are not prepared to help with reducing the cost of college for those families. Start thinking now because you are going to vote in a few minutes. Think about that family. two parents working their tails off to make ends meet. They are firefighters. construction workers. They dont work all year round. They get laid off. They are married to a nurse or a teacher or a policeman. All of a sudden they find out that they are not eligible for this. I ask this House to give this a resounding "no." This isnt fair. it isnt just. and it is wrong. It is going to drive up the cost of college for the very families and students who need it the most. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.