Providing for Consideration of H.R. 609, College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 609, COLLEGE ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - March 29, 2006)
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(Ms. MATSUI asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)
Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, in our country, education has long been viewed as the doorway to opportunity. Unfortunately, if we pass this rule and the underlying legislation, we will be closing this door for many.
Over the past year, I have sat down with students at Sacramento State University in my hometown of Sacramento. These young people are so talented and so filled with the possibility of tomorrow, but they are all concerned about the cuts to financial aid and their ability to finish college. This legislation will not address their concerns and, actually, will probably increase them.
The inability to afford college was less of an issue for my generation. When I was growing up in California, there was never a concern that I couldn't go to college. But this is not the case today. In all likelihood, my parents would have a very difficult time putting together a package that would allow me to go to college because, across the Nation, the average tuition and fees at 4-year public colleges have risen 40 percent since 2001 when adjusted for inflation. Yet when also adjusted for inflation, the maximum Pell Grant last year was worth $800 less than it was in 1975, and this bill only raises the authorizing level by a mere $200 over 6 years.
The spending cuts this Congress passed earlier this year represented the single largest cut to the Nation's Federal student aid programs ever. Sadly, this bill fails to reverse that trend, and it puts college even further out of reach for many. For the students at Sac State, UC Davis, and across the Nation, this legislation will impact their ability to earn a degree as well as their future, and ultimately it will impact this Nation's future.
Today, this country is a world leader by nearly every economic indicator, and our standard of living is without equal. But that didn't happen by accident. Our predecessors made a decision to make the critical investment in education and ensure access to an affordable education. While we seem to be increasing the barriers to a college education, we should not doubt for a moment that our international competitors are making that mistake. China, India, South Korea and others are making the investment to produce the intellectual capital they will need to boost their economic growth and catch up to the United States.
College financial aid is an investment in America's economic strength and its workforce. If the barriers to a college education continue to increase, America's preeminence in the world economy will be at risk. If we want to ensure we retain our international preeminence, we must make the investment in our most important engine of economic growth: the American people. They are our Nation's most valuable resource.
We must make college truly affordable for every student who has the ability and the will to work hard, study and continue to make America the world's economic leader. But we will not be doing that with this legislation. And as we bring this bill to the House floor, we are sending a very loud signal that partisanship has a higher priority in this Congress than working together to address the needs of the Nation.
In previous Congresses, the higher education reauthorization has come to the floor with a rule simply requiring the preprinting of amendments, certainly a far more open process than today. Those rules passed each time by voice vote. It allowed healthy debate on one of the most important bills this Congress considers, because we must get it right. But we don't see the same rule in this Congress. Instead, the Rules Committee chose to shut out Members' ideas by issuing this first restrictive rule late last night, which is likely to be followed by a second rule that also shuts Members out of the process.
Once again, we see the majority limiting the ideas that can be debated on the House floor. It will only add to this bill's flawed consideration, and ultimately, it will block efforts to correct its misguided priorities.
So I urge my colleagues to vote down this rule and the underlying legislation so we can return to the floor with a higher education bill that does make the investment in our young people and our Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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