College Cost Reduction Act Of 2007

Floor Speech

COLLEGE COST REDUCTION ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - July 11, 2007)

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the chairman for yielding, and I want to congratulate the chairman. There is nobody in this body who has served longer with more focus on the quality of education, the access to higher education, and whether we're dealing with primary, secondary or higher education, more concern than George Miller of California, and I congratulate him on the service that he has given.

I also want to congratulate the ranking member, who himself has been an outspoken advocate of education quality in America.

Let me say, before I start my remarks, that I'm always interested to hear the comments of the ranking member of the Budget Committee and of the leader of the Republican Study Committee. I'm interested to hear their remarks because of course they have both said nine new entitlements. I was here with both of them for 3 hours one night, from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. in the morning, and we enacted the largest entitlement that has been enacted since the 1960s, and we were told that was going to cost $395 billion by the administration. The administration did not tell us the truth, and they knew they were not telling us the truth. And the person who knew the truth was prohibited by the administration from giving us the truth on pain of being removed, a civil servant, not an administration appointee. He knew the cost of that program, as he projected it, was $524 billion, or $125 billion more than we were told on this floor. But it was told $395 billion additional entitlement.

Now the interesting thing is that Mr. Ryan and Mr. Hensarling both voted for that program. That program has a larger unfunded liability as of this day than Social Security. So I think the lecture on fiscal responsibility is, frankly, not well taken.

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Mr. HOYER. The gentleman, of course, is not on this floor lamenting
the creation of entitlements as is my friend from Texas, so I suggest your question is inappropriate because your concern is about entitlements. But you voted for an entitlement that was the largest entitlement passed on the floor of this House in four decades, about as long as I think the gentleman has been alive. I wish that I could say the same; unfortunately, I've been alive a lot longer than that. So I think the question begs the question, my friend.

But let me say about this landmark legislation, the College Cost Reduction of 2007 is yet another example of how this Democratic Congress is committed to moving our Nation in a new and better direction and working on behalf of the American people.

In short, this legislation will provide the single largest investment in college financial aid, and about $18 billion over the next 5 years. Now, that is about one-fifteenth of the mistake that was made in the entitlement that you supported, my friend. And it's the largest since the GI Bill was funded in 1944. The GI Bill was an entitlement. And very frankly, the Greatest Generation was worth investing in. And that investment has paid off 100 fold in the economy that this Greatest Generation built in America, and it will do so in this case as well. And it does so at no new cost to the American taxpayer by cutting excess subsidies paid by the Federal Government to lenders in the student loans industry. The administration suggested $16 billion. We're a little above that. So there is not a disagreement as to whether or not there is an overpayment here; it's a question of where you're going to put your money. In fact, it includes a $750 million, not a lot of money in the scheme of billions of dollars and trillions of dollars, reduction in the deficit.

A few months ago Bill Gates, the chairman and cofounder of the Microsoft Corporation and one of our Nation's great innovators, wrote in the Washington Post, ``If we, the United States, are to remain competitive, we need a workforce that consists of the world's brightest minds.'' That's what this bill seeks to enhance. Mr. Gates added, ``Education has always been the gateway to a better life in this country.''

Mr. Speaker, this legislation not only recognizes that education is a key to personal development, fulfillment and success, but also, and critically, a crucial factor in our national competitiveness, our continued prosperity, and yes, I suggest to all of my colleagues, our national security.

Simply stated, this legislation will make a college education more affordable for millions of students and their families. The fact is, college tuition today is exploding. Tuition at 4-year public colleges has grown by 35 percent in the last 5 years. Let me say in my State of Maryland, tuition cost has gone up 43 percent in the last 4 years. America cannot afford to shut people out of the access to college education if we're going to be successful in world markets in a flat world, as Tom Friedman refers to it. Too many students graduate with tremendous debt, and too many others simply don't go to college because they cannot afford it. To address this situation, this bill will increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarships by at least $500 over the next 5 years. That will not come close to what the Pell Grants initially, when they were adopted, replaced in tuition costs, about 70 percent. We're now down to 30 percent. When combined with other Pell scholarship increases proposed by Congress this year, the maximum Pell Grant will reach $4,900 in 2008, $5,200 in 2011, up from $4,050 in 2006. Notwithstanding, the President in 2000, in his campaign, said he was going to increase the Pell Grant very substantially. It doesn't happen.

The bill also will cut interest in half on subsidized student loans over the next 5 years, and it will guarantee that borrowers will not have to pay more than 15 percent of their discretionary income to loan repayments. In addition, this bill seeks to ensure highly qualified teachers in every classroom, a critical need in our Nation, by providing up-front tuition assistance to qualified students who commit to teaching in public schools in high-poverty communities or high-need areas. That is important for our country's ability to compete and to develop every mind in America. There is not a child to waste in America. We know that.

It encourages and rewards public service by providing loan forgiveness for first responders, law enforcement officers, firefighters, nurses and others. And it encourages landmark new investment, $500 million guaranteed over 5 years, for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribally controlled, native or predominantly black institutions.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation is a very significant and important step toward realizing the goal of making college affordable for every qualified student.

I want to congratulate Chairman Miller once more and the staff and all of the members of the committee and Mr. McKeon for the positive role, whatever position one might take for or against, the positive role that the committee has played. It is a historic investment in our people and our Nation. I urge every Member to strongly support this legislation.

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