Date: 2007-07-11
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker and members of the committee. I think this has been a very good debate because this has been a debate about which direction this country should go in and I believe will go in and the direction that the American people want this country to go in. . Parents all over this Nation hear every day from business leaders. from educational leaders. from the media. they hear that for America to.be competitive. we have got to have a smarter workforce. a better skilled workforce. a better equipped workforce so that we can continue Americas leadership in the world in the economics of the world and in the national security of this country. The key to that workforce. the key to that competitiveness. again. the very people who are hiring those individuals say that you must have a college education. What used to be good enough. which was graduation from high school. is no longer good enough today. You have to have advanced learning. It may be in a professional school. It may be in a trade school. It may be in a community college. It may be in a 4year college. You may get some of it now and. some of it later. But the fact of the matter is. you need those skills. But what has happened over this time is that college education has increased as rapidly- as anything else in society. in fact. more rapidly than many other indicators in our economy. over 35 to 40 percent over the last 5 years above inflation. What has that meant? That meant that families who thought they could afford that education now find that they have to squeeze harder. That meant that people. who thought they werent going to have to borrow money are now going to have to borrow money. That meant that people who thought they were going to be able to go to college are now deciding that they can no longer go to college. They are going to postpone it or maybe not go at all. fl 1445 Thats not good for America. Thats not good for Americas economy. Thats not good for Americas democratic institutions. And its not good for our society. We need those young people to go to college. What this legislation does today is it says to those individuals who are fully qualified to go to college. we will not deny you access to the college of your choice. to the education of your choice. to the career of your choice. and to the curriculum of your choice because you cant afford to pay for it. Were going to help you. Were not going to give you everything you need. Your family is still going to have to sacrifice. youre still going to have to pay back loans. but were going to give you greater access to the ability to do that. Were going to take this country in a new direction. Were going to take this country in a direction where we place a priority. a focus and a vision for education in America today because we know we must. Were told again by the leaders of all of the new technologies. the new companies. the people who are investing in the future that we were the beneficiaries of when John Kennedy said that he wanted to send a person to the Moon and bring them back safely. It was more than a Moon shot. John Kennedy captured our imagination. he captured world leadership with that decision. And over the next decade. we did exactly as he directed. But you know what else they did? They give 28.000 highperforming college students a grant to go to graduate school so they didnt have to borrow money.- they didnt have to walk around with a tin cup. they didnt have to put themselves into debt. so they could use their best skills and talents .to create the space program. You know what they created after they created the space program? They created Intel. they created Microsoft. they created Hewlett Packard. They created the infrastructure of this Nation. Now. did we whine and moan because they got a grant and the taxpayers used their money? They created millions of jobs in" this country over the next four decades. Thats what this is about. Those are the investments that my grandparents made in my education before they ever met me. Those are the investments that my parents made in my education after they met me. They still thought it was worth something. And those are the investments that ha]e made this country the greatest and strongest Nation in the world. have made us an economic leader. and have given us the ability to lead the world. Do we want to turn our back on it now? If you accept this substitute. youre turning our back on that idea. The Republicans say. well. were just going to take a little less money. but were going to put it all in the Pell Grant. The Republicans. after flatlining Pell Grant all of these years when they had the opportunity to do something. did nothing. Now they want to love this bill to death by putting all the money in the Pell Grant. This is what this legislation will do for Pell recipients. it will take them up to $5.200 in a Pell Grant. That may or may not pay for their education for that year. but its a big leap forward. But we also recognize something else. that this isnt the only constituency - struggling to pay for education in this country. No. there are millions of students who will take out a subsidized student loan. And for those students. and their parents who will help them pay it back if theyre that fortunate. for those students they will be paying for it by themselves. were saying we will cut the interest rate in half when you graduate and you start to repay your loan. You borrow the money today. you pay your tuition. and when it comes time to pay your loan. your interest rate is half of what it is today. Because we know that those middleincome families in this country are struggling as hard as anybody. They have the same vision. the- same hope and the same aspiration for their children. So thats why were doing this. because its the best investment we can .make in this country in that talent of our children. in the brilliance and the excitement and the vision of those children. Thats what this legislation is about. But thats not what this substitute legislation is about. You cannot walk away from them. I find it interesting that just 4 months ago. 5 months ago. 124 Republicans voted to cut those interest rates for middleincome families and their children. and now theyre going to vote against it today. So they voted for it then. and now theyre going to vote against it today. What was going on? Did they believe it then. or they dont believe it now? Which is it? But the fact of the matter is. this is about whether or not those families that struggle. they may be single parents. they may be two in their family. they may be families that find themselves with one. two or three kids in college at the same time. This government should help them because those children will return that gift of this Nation back to this Nation time and time again over the life of their earnings. over their careers. They will give back to this Nation because we made that investment as my parents and grandparents made in us. If you vote for this substitute. you get rid of the interest rate cuts for those middleincome families. And also. for these very same Pell recipients. over half of these students will have to borrow money because a Pell Grant isnt enough. So they participate also in that interest rate cut. You fail to participate in the loan forgiveness for the teacher. for the firefighter. for the policeman. for the special education teacher. for first responders. For those people in critical occupations that give so much to this society. but theyre not the highest paying.jobs. were telling them if you stay on the job 5 years. we will give you $5.000 in loan forgiveness. For a student that graduates with an average debt of around 13.000. $14.000. thats a significant amount of loan forgiveness. What do we get? We get an educated firefighter. an educated policeman. a school tea cher. We get these people. For highperforming college students who are willing to go into teaching and go into math. science and engineering. and then go to the most difficult schools to teach. were saying we will give you $4.000 a year in tuition assistance while youre in school. not later. up to $16.000. again. an investment. because we now know that a highly qualified teacher can dramatically change the educational outcomes and the future for the children in ways that we can only dreamabout. Thats an important investment. because that investment in that teacher will be invested in all of those students that come across his or her line of vision in those classes. Thats why this legislation is about a vision for America. Thats why this legislation goes in a different direction. We stop today when we flatline aid to education in tl~is country. We want to invest in young people. We want their families to be able to invest with us. And thats the importance of this legislation. And. clearly. the- commitment that we make to minorityserving institutions so that those students who are fully qualified to go to school go to school. receive the kind of help to keep them in school so they dont end up dropping out with a debt on the loans that they took. We want that success. Its a problem thats recognized across the country. we address it. We raise the cap on the amount of money that families can borrow. Its not great news to hear we let you borrow more. but its a lot cheaper than if you have to borrow it in the private loan market. Its 3.8 percent here. and its 10. 12. -13. 14. 15 percent in the private market. That means a lot to families. That means a lot to students. Thats what this legislation is about. I would ask all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject this substitute. to vote for the passage of the final bill. Lets take America to a new future. Lets take America to new heights. Lets take America to new greatness on the next generation of discoverers. of innovators. and of economic creators. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.