Issues
Education Higher Education
I
believe that Congress should expand the availability of student
aid, and ensure that qualified students have access to a postsecondary
education.
I am proud to have led a number of successful financial aid
initiatives in recent years, including raising the individual
Pell Grant award, which is a critical source of assistance
for many students. During consideration of the fiscal year
2001 budget resolution, the Senate passed a Kennedy-Feingold
amendment raising the maximum individual Pell Grant award
to $3,700, an increase of $400. In fiscal year 2001 budget
negotiations between the House and the Senate, the maximum
individual award was boosted to $3750, making it the largest
increase in over two decades. In fiscal year 2002, the maximum
award was again raised to $4,000, and then to $4,050 in fiscal
year 2003. During consideration of the fiscal year 2004 budget
resolution, I pushed for a $450 increase, to raise the maximum
award to $4,500, and led a broad coalition to propose a doubling
in Pell Grant funding by 2010. Unfortunately, these latter
provisions were not included in the final fiscal year 2004
budget resolution. I will continue to lead efforts to increase
the Pell Grant award, including my continued effort to increase
this award from $4,050 to $4,500.
I am also working on other efforts to ensure that all students
can have access to higher education. In March 2004, I joined
several of my colleagues in writing a letter to the Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education requesting adequate funding for the Leveraging
Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) program, which provides
disadvantaged undergraduate and graduate students with financial
aid. In addition, I again joined a number of my colleagues
in sending a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of
the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, urging
an increase in funding for the TRIO Programs, which help low-income
Americans enter college, and graduate.
In May 2004, I also joined several of my colleagues in asking
the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education to protect the Perkins Vocational
and Technical Education Act program's funding from the 25
percent cut proposed by the Administration in its fiscal year
2005 budget request. The Perkins program provides crucial
funds for career and technical education in the United States.
I also asked this Subcommittee to sufficiently fund the Gaining
Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR
UP) program. GEAR UP is a national education program designed
to help low-income students enter college. I will continue
to push for adequate funding for these critical programs that
help students achieve their goal of receiving a higher education.
In November 2000, the President signed into law S.1455, the
Scholarship Fraud Prevention Act, which former Senator Spencer
Abraham (R-Michigan) and I introduced. This legislation helps
to protect college students by making more information available
about scholarship scams and by helping students gain access
to legitimate, reliable sources of scholarship information.
It also helps to ensure that scholarship scam artists do not
profit at the expense of students.
No Child Left
Behind Act
Student Testing
Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act
Teacher Quality
Other K-12
Education Issues
Higher
Education
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