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House
Democrat Leaders Block Bill to Expand Access to Higher Education
WASHINGTON,
D.C. - As part of an
ongoing election-year effort to disrupt proceedings in the U.S. House of
Representatives, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) today blocked
floor passage of a non-controversial, bipartisan higher education bill that
would improve access to college for disadvantaged students, bolster support
for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and make other noncontroversial technical
improvements to the Higher Education Act. Twenty-seven House Democrats,
including Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI), who played a key role in writing the
legislation, broke with Gephardt and joined Republicans in voting
"yes" on the measure, which is also strongly backed by the higher
education community.
“House Democrat leaders sent a clear message today: they’d rather help
themselves by playing politics than help low-income students by improving
college aid programs,”
said House Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner
(R-OH). “This is a non-controversial, bipartisan bill that helps low-income
and minority students, eases aid requirements for Hispanic-Serving
Institutions, and makes other needed changes to benefit college students and
universities.”
The
FED UP bill (H.R. 4866), the product of a year-long Internet based project
that collected recommendations from students, educators and others involved
with higher education for streamlining federal red tape in student aid
programs, was introduced in early June. The bill, which Rep. Buck McKeon
(R-CA) assembled in close consultation with House Democrats, is a collection
of common-sense, revenue-neutral technical changes to the Higher Education
Act.
Among other things, the FED UP legislation blocked by House Democrat leaders
Tuesday:
- Eases aid requirements for
America’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs).
Allows Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to apply for federal HSI grants
without waiting two years between applications. This provision compliments
President Bush’s FY2003 Budget request, which includes $89.1 million for
the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions program, an increase of $3.1
million, to expand and enhance support for postsecondary education
institutions that serve large percentages of Hispanic students and help to
close the gap between Hispanic students and their peers.
Makes clear that federal
scholarship aid can go to low-income and minority students for law school.
Allows the U.S. Department of Education to provide scholarship aid to
low-income and minority students to prepare for and attend law school, which
is not currently mentioned specifically as an allowable use in the Higher
Education Act.
Makes clear that
home-schooled students can receive federal student aid.
Clarifies that home-schooled students are eligible for financial aid for
higher education and that schools will not lose their institutional
eligibility for granting aid to home-schooled students.
Helps students avoid
defaulting on their student loans. Removes
barriers to students seeking forbearance from lenders on student loan
payments by eliminating the requirement that new agreements between lenders
and borrowers be in writing (however, lenders must provide notice to
borrowers of the terms of any new agreement). “Forbearance” is a process
by which a borrower who is having temporary difficulty meeting his or her
repayment obligations can contact the lender, explain the situation and
obtain some form of relief - possibly in the form of an extension, reduced
monthly payments for a period of time, no payments for a short time, or other
options. The FED UP change will provide relief to student borrowers to help
keep them out of default and make it easier for lenders to react more quickly
to students’ needs.
Democrats
and Republicans agreed during the process that controversial items - such as
items with significant price tags for which budget offsets have not been
found - would not be part of the bill. Democrats claim they wanted to
attach a variety of additional provisions to the legislation, but offered no
explanation as to how those provisions would be paid for. House Democrats
this year did not even offer a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year.
Gephardt claims House Democrats were denied the opportunity to modify the
legislation. In reality:
- Democrats were full
participants in the FED UP project.
- Democrats were fully
involved in the drafting of the FED UP legislation.
- Democrats were invited and
participated in a press conference introducing the bill. No changes or
additions were made to the FED UP bill without the full cooperation and
approval of Democrats.
- At no point during the
drafting of the FED UP bill did Democrats indicate a desire to add high
cost, non-technical amendments to the bill. If that was their position, it
should have been addressed during the bill’s development.
- There was never any
confusion about the non-controversial, budget-neutral foundation of the
bill.
- Staff working on the draft
discussed it continually. Higher education groups were completely aware of
it as well.
- In a meeting prior to the
bill’s introduction with higher education groups involving both Democrat
and Republican staff (House and Senate), that concept was repeated. It was
made abundantly clear that if issues within the bill had cost or were
deemed to be controversial, they would be removed. If there was any
confusion or concern with that, it was never raised.
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