Higher Education Extension Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today in support of H.R. 3594, the Higher Education Extension
Act, and I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. Bishop, as well as my
colleagues, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Messer, and Ranking Member Scott, for
their leadership on this issue.

This bill would extend the Perkins Loan Program for 1 year. Perkins
loans are need-based loans which foster access to higher education for
low-income students by providing low-interest loans to students in
need. Colleges and universities tailor the program to best fit
borrowers' and educational institutions' situations.

Perkins is a risk-sharing program, with institutions contributing
one-third of their students' awards. This ``ownership interest'' also
contributes to the successful management of this vital program.

We have only 2 days before the Perkins Loan Program is set to expire,
so we must act immediately.

Since its inception in 1958, over $28 billion in loans have been made
to students through almost 26 million aid awards. Perkins Loan
borrowers are predominantly from lower income families and are often
the first in their family to attend college.

Perkins loans have a set interest rate of 5 percent, which begins to
accrue 9 months after the borrower ceases to be a student. However,
this program has not been reauthorized since the 2009 fiscal year.

Besides making higher education accessible for lower income students,
this program serves as an incentive for people who wish to go into a
public service by offering targeted loan cancellations for specific
progression in areas of national need, including teaching, nursing, and
law enforcement.

Earlier this year, I introduced a bipartisan resolution in support of
the Perkins loans with Congressman Messer of Indiana, H. Res. 294, with
56 cosponsors. My colleague Representative Louise Slaughter, a leader
on this issue, offered a letter with more than 90 bipartisan signatures
in support of this important program. Over 33 groups and higher
educational institutions have supported this bill's reauthorization.

Bottom line, the Perkins Loan Program has helped millions of students
and families struggling to find a way to pay for college. I applaud my
colleague across the aisle, specifically, a thank-you to Mr. Bishop,
for helping to ensure students have access to Federal financial aid
that they need to make college affordable and accessible.

I urge support of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I just want to again thank Representative Bishop for all your work on
this--thank you very much--and Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Scott.
This is, I think, a good example of how we can work together in a
committee to make sure that higher educational needs are met.

I represent about 75,000 higher education students. With UW Madison
as the flagship, about 45,000 students, we have other campuses for the
UW system, Beloit College and other smaller private colleges, Madison
College and others.

This is a really important program, not just back home in Wisconsin,
but across the country; and the fact that we are able to get this done
in a bipartisan manner shows how I think Congress can work its very
best. So I urge my colleagues to support this.
I yield back the balance of my time.

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