College Cost Reduction Act Of 2007

Floor Speech

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

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the ranking member for giving me this time.

I have sat here and listened to this debate on this bill, and I want to say we are back at dealing with hypocrisy again, as we have been on a daily basis.

The College Cost Reduction Act, the title is not just a misnomer; it is an outright lie. Much of the $18 billion in new spending doesn't reduce the cost of college, but instead consists of new welfare targeted at people who aren't even students.

And comparing this bill to the GI bill is truly, truly hypocrisy. We instituted the GI bill to help men and women who had fought for this country and returned to this country to help them get college education and get back into our culture.

All this is going to do is increase the nanny state. What we are doing is taking away personal responsibility from people and giving them out and out payments for loans that they take out that they don't need to take out.

Economists are not going to tell us that money spent on education is a good investment, and the government doesn't invest money. The government spends money. It is interesting to me that they brought out the big guns for this bill and they say it is no new cost to taxpayers. Well, every dollar we take away from taxpayers is a cost to them.

Why is tuition up 43 percent? We are looking at the wrong issue. As long as the government keeps throwing money, then the institutions are going to keep expanding what they charge. I have used myself as an example before, but I know many people who have done this. They went to college and never borrowed a dime. They were as poor as could be.

We should call this the new Democrat welfare bill. It is a Trojan horse. It is designed to fool the American people. We have used this analogy before. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig, and that is what this bill is. There is no need for this. There is no need for people to go into debt to go to college in this country. There are all kinds of choices for people. All we are doing is taking money away from hardworking American people and creating new government programs.

I am really concerned about the direction in which we are heading in this country. The Democrats have never seen a welfare program they didn't like. Republicans were able to decrease welfare costs when they took over in this body in 1995. This is another attempt by the Democrats to continue the welfare program.

I want Americans to have access to education. I have worked in education all my life: school board member, university administrator, college president. I have dealt with low-income students. This is not the way to do it. We don't need a return to the nanny state.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source