College Student Relief Act of 2007

COLLEGE STUDENT RELIEF ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - January 17, 2007)

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Mr. WICKER. Madam Speaker, I expect a lot of Members on both sides of the aisle are going to vote for this legislation. I can't vote for it because it doesn't live up to the rhetoric that we have heard from the proponents of the legislation in debate today.

If you want to come up with a bill to, indeed, make college more affordable for middle America, then count me in. If you want to improve access to a college education for millions and millions of American young people, then count me in. If you want to do something about the very real problem of slowing the growth rate of college tuition, which is really what we should be getting at, then count me in. But I don't think this bill does any of that. And frankly, I am afraid that in the end this legislation, if enacted, would actually make a college education more expensive.

But I have to respond to some comments made by my friend from Virginia, Mr. Moran, just a few moments ago to the effect that Republicans are not interested in helping Americans get a college education, that we somehow have a poor record in supporting student aid and higher education. I would take strong exception to those remarks, and I would submit to the contrary, Madam Speaker, that House Republicans, over 12 years of Republican majorities in this House of Representatives, have a proud record of working to expand college access through a two-pronged effort: Number one, working to hold institutions more accountable for their role in college costs, and this bill does nothing to address that whatsoever, and number two, maintaining a historic bipartisan commitment to Federal student aid. Under 12 years of a Republican majority in this House of Representatives we have achieved record levels of overall student aid, more than tripled what it was a decade ago. We funded more Pell Grants, a two-thirds increase over the past decade. In addition, the Republican record on student aid includes new grant aid for Pell Grant students, higher loan limits to give students access to more financial aid, lower loan fees so that students can keep more of what they borrow, tuition savings and deductibility, reduced student loan payments and ending the single holder rule, student loan relief for higher demand teachers--and certainly, that is something that we could have hearings about and have a bipartisan consensus about, Madam Speaker, targeting this student aid to those students who plan to go into difficult areas where there is a great need in this country--taxpayer savings through fewer lender subsidies and, finally, less fraud and abuse in Federal student aid.

So I would submit that this party has had a proud 12-year record of accomplishment in student aid, and I could not let the statements of my very good friend from Virginia go uncontested. We are all for helping students, for making college education more affordable and more accessible and for helping move more people into a higher education and a better way of life for them and their families. And I don't think this bill gets us there. I think 12 years of Republican leadership is something that we can all be proud of. So I will be voting against the bill.

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