Date: 2006-03-29
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. Members of the House. there is some suggestion that somehow this bill has become a partisan bill. The fact of the matter is that this bill has continued. as we have done so mauy bills in the Education Committee. started. out on a bipartisan basis. and we worked on that basis over the last couple of years. And then in the last session of Congress. the decision was made in the reconciliation bill to split out the student loan portions of this bill and to make the cut. the . now famous $12 billion cut. in the student aid accounts. We continued to work with the majority. and up until yesterday. when. I went in and talked to Mr. MCKEON and told him I just didnt think we were going to be ableto arrive at a conclusion.. and he was getting ready to go to Rules Committee. and I said that we are just not going to get to that point where the Members on my side of the aisle. significant players in the education community and on our committee would not support the legislation. We look forward to continuing to work with him as we go into conference. But the fact of the matter is. I think what Members see in this legislation. when we talk about a missed opportunity. when we talk about a failure to respond is you can -continue to put -up charts that we are spending more money. Yes. the entitlement programs of Pell and the entitlement loan .program are spending more. becau�e more students are becoming eligible for them. some because of a bad economy. some because they have decided to go to college. But the fact of the matter is you are spending more money and you are purchasing less. And the gap that the maximum Pell Grant covers now. it used to cover 40 percent of that students education. If that student worked fulltime during the summer. parttime during school. they could close that gap. Starting this year. they can no longer close that gap. They are going to be about $2.000 short. They are going to be about $2.000 short if they work over that period of time. So the Pell Grant is purchasing less and less of the college education. In ust a couple of years. a couple of years from now. that gap will dramatically. increase even more. So what the problem is. and what the Republicans havent yet recognized is. the conversations that are taking place in families right now as students are trying to put together their aid package. that the student loans. the Pell Grant are purchasing less and less of the cost of that education. And this bill fails to address that. This bill fails to address that because they chose. when they made .that $20 billion in cuts. the $12 billion net. they chose not to reinvest those savings in the education programs on behalf of these families and their students. Families will continue and students will continue to pay excessive fees and excessive charges. They will not let the lenders keep them. and they shouldnt let the lenders keep them. But they take what they admit are excessive payments by these families. and they give it for the tax cut. They dont say. here. take this money back. return this to the borrower. let them keep the money. let them pay for their childs education. They take it off and give it off to the tax cuts for the oil companies and the tax cuts to the wealthy. That is what we talk about when we say a missed opportunity. The Republicans just arent hearing huge numbers of American families who are struggling with the decision on how to pay for their kids college education. In that cut. they raise the interest rates on those parents from 7.9 percent to 8.5 percent. The parentsare going to have to borrow more under this program. They charge them a 1 percent insurance fee. They say. well. it is waivable. all that. The fact of the matter is they are raising costs at a time when it is harder and harder for families in America to put together the package to pay for that education. And as we see now. even if the students work full time in the summer. part time through the school year. they cannot close that gap. That is what we mean. That is why some of the speakers got up here and said they are worried about the affordability. That is what we mean by the inability to address the needs of families and students who want to pursue a higher education. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time.