Moment of Silence in Remembrance of Members of Armed Forces and Their Families

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Indiana is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, I rise to support this amendment. This so-called ``gainful employment'' regulation is another example of this big Federal Government run amok.

Today, Hoosiers in Indiana, and all Americans, are free to choose from accredited colleges and pick the one that they believe fits their needs. These are accredited colleges. No one has accused them of unfairly serving the poor--no one rightfully has--or anyone else. They are accredited. They are licensed.

The Federal Government gets involved in student loans and grants already, more so, I would say, than I and others would like it to. But at least, Mr. Chairman, we still let individuals make their own decisions on where to go to school.

The new rule makes a mockery of our American tradition of free choice, replacing it with a bizarre program where the Federal Government decides what job you should seek and what school you can attend. Let me walk you through it.

Under this rule, the Obama administration has proposed a plan that, number one, creates a matrix that examines the student loan debt to future income of a prospective student; then, it compares that ratio to the student loan repayment rates of graduates of the same program; and, number three, and finally, it decides if the student can have access to the loans they would need to attend the school or program of their choice.

So for those of us listening, watching at home, what this means is, if you are contemplating going to school so that you can economically better yourself, or because you otherwise want to enrich your life, you just can't go to the college or school of your choosing if you need a government loan.

Instead, a nameless, faceless bureaucracy using some bizarre arbitrary formula gets to decide whether or not you have chosen a field of study that will pay enough to justify the investment, in the mind of that particular bureaucrat. Unbelievable.

The government and the Obama administration are now micromanaging this part of our lives, too. Talk about central planning, Mr. Chairman.

To make matters worse, this new program will disproportionately hurt Hoosiers and other Americans who are least able to do anything about it: Working Americans who need new training and new skills to move forward in the workforce. This was what this Congress should be about.

If this regulation becomes reality, it will immediately prevent 400,000 people from developing new skills to benefit the workforce. By 2020, nearly 5.4 million students will be denied the higher education program of their choice.

In a global economy, we cannot compete without an educated and flexible workforce. This amendment will allow Americans the choice they deserve and the educational flexibility our Nation needs. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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