WASHINGTON, D.C. – Below are the prepared remarks of U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, during House consideration of H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.
I rise today in support of H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bill that will be transformative for our children, our economy, and our future.
Like President Obama’s other two pillars for economic growth – health reform and energy –this bill is about the future.
As he recently said: “In a world where countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its people.”
The legislation before us takes that challenge seriously.
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I rise today in support of H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bill that will be transformative for our children, our economy, and our future.
Like President Obama’s other two pillars for economic growth – health reform and energy –this bill is about the future.
As he recently said: “In a world where countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its people.”
The legislation before us takes that challenge seriously.
First, it will help us reach President Obama’s goal of once again leading the world in college graduates by making college more affordable.
We’ve seen what happens when we have an economy built on credit.
For the past few decades, Americans have gone into severe debt to meet rising costs – especially to pay for college.
Over the last year, escalating tuition prices and college loan payments have become even more burdensome in light of lost jobs, incomes and benefits.
Today we have the chance to make the single largest investment in grant aid and other benefits to help more students graduate with less debt, all within the PAYGO rule, while also cutting entitlement spending by $10 billion over 10 years.
These are smart, strategic investments done in a fiscally responsible way.
H.R. 3221 invests $40 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarship award to $5,500 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019, linking it to match cost of living increases.
It simplifies the FAFSA form to make it easier to apply for federal student aid.
It builds on our previous work to make interest rates on need-based federal loans affordable by making these rates variable beginning in 2012 – when they are set to jump from 3.4 to 6.8 percent.
It expands students’ access to low-cost Perkins loans.
But ensuring access and affordability is only one part of the equation.
Students need both the means to attend college – and the support to complete it.
For example, this bill invests $2.55 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions, to provide students with these supportive services.
It also invests $3 billion in the College Access and Completion Challenge Fund, to help colleges develop or enhance innovative programs that improve financial literacy and college completion rates.
I’d like to thank Mr. Bishop, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Petri, and many other members of our committee for their hard work on these provisions.
Second, this legislation makes an unprecedented $10 billion investment to make community colleges part of our economy’s recovery.
For years, business leaders have told us there weren’t enough workers with the knowledge and the expertise for their specific industries.
Community colleges can play a significant role in addressing this shortage.
This bill will help us build a 21st century workforce by strengthening partnerships among community colleges, businesses and job training programs that will align community college curricula with the needs of high-wage, high-demand industries.
It will provide community colleges with the tools to replicate programs that are successfully educating and training students and workers for these skilled jobs.
And it will fulfill an important priority for the business community who has continually understood the value community colleges have in training a highly-skilled workforce and helping meet local employment needs.
That’s why this historic initiative has strong support from the business community, including the Business Roundtable.
H.R. 3221 also recognizes that creating better educational opportunities demands that we invest in our students long before they reach college. Ms. Hirono has provided a lot of leadership in this area – and I’d like to thank her for helping us craft this part of the bill.
Today, almost 12 million children under 5 regularly spend time in child care.
Yet, despite the fact that children’s early experiences have lasting effects on brain development, learning, and success, our nation hasn’t adequately invested in early learning opportunities.
Federal and state policies leave families with a patchwork system of children care with mediocre quality.
And by age 4, children from low-income families are already 18 months behind their more advantaged peers.
Economists, business leaders, and experts agree that smart investments in early education are vital to closing the achievement gap and preparing children to thrive in school and in life.
This bill heeds that advice. It invests $8 billion over 8 years in competitive grants to challenge states to transform early learning practices and build comprehensive high-quality early learning systems for children from birth to age 5.
To qualify, states will have to demonstrate progress on major reforms by:
Finally, this legislation ensures that every student can learn in a safe, healthy, energy-efficient and modern classroom by renovating and repairing our nation’s schools – provisions that have long been championed by Mr. Chandler, Kildee and Loebsack.
This is a measure that the House has already voted to support, but not to fund.
Not only will this improve the quality of education for our children, it will bolster our economy by supporting new jobs in the construction industry.
All of these reforms are paid for – at no cost to taxpayers – by making common-sense changes to our student loan programs that will achieve two crucial goals at once.
By converting all new federal student loans to the Direct Loan program starting in July 2010, we will finally end wasteful taxpayer subsidies that are keeping a broken system afloat.
We will also insulate all federal college loans from future turmoil in the financial markets.
Students will have access to the low-cost loans they need, in any economy.
Our bill also upgrades the customer service borrowers receive when repaying their loans.
Rather than force private industry out of the system, we maintain jobs and a role for lenders and non-profits by allowing them to compete for contracts to service these loans.
This simple change will save $87 billion over ten years.
And, as part of our efforts to invest in a brighter future for our children, we will direct $10 billion of these savings to reduce entitlement spending.
The choice before us is clear. We can either keep sending these subsidies to banks – or we can start sending them directly to students.
No child in America should have to mortgage their future to pursue their dreams.
This legislation will help us rebuild an economy where every child can enjoy the promise of equal opportunity, become part of our middle-class and fulfill their own American Dream.
I urge all my colleagues to support it.
We’ve seen what happens when we have an economy built on credit.
For the past few decades, Americans have gone into severe debt to meet rising costs – especially to pay for college.
Over the last year, escalating tuition prices and college loan payments have become even more burdensome in light of lost jobs, incomes and benefits.
Today we have the chance to make the single largest investment in grant aid and other benefits to help more students graduate with less debt, all within the PAYGO rule, while also cutting entitlement spending by $10 billion over 10 years.
These are smart, strategic investments done in a fiscally responsible way.
H.R. 3221 invests $40 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarship award to $5,500 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019, linking it to match cost of living increases.
It simplifies the FAFSA form to make it easier to apply for federal student aid.
It builds on our previous work to make interest rates on need-based federal loans affordable by making these rates variable beginning in 2012 – when they are set to jump from 3.4 to 6.8 percent.
It expands students’ access to low-cost Perkins loans.
But ensuring access and affordability is only one part of the equation.
Students need both the means to attend college – and the support to complete it.
For example, this bill invests $2.55 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions, to provide students with these supportive services.
It also invests $3 billion in the College Access and Completion Challenge Fund, to help colleges develop or enhance innovative programs that improve financial literacy and college completion rates.
I’d like to thank Mr. Bishop, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Petri, and many other members of our committee for their hard work on these provisions.
Second, this legislation makes an unprecedented $10 billion investment to make community colleges part of our economy’s recovery.
For years, business leaders have told us there weren’t enough workers with the knowledge and the expertise for their specific industries.
Community colleges can play a significant role in addressing this shortage.
This bill will help us build a 21st century workforce by strengthening partnerships among community colleges, businesses and job training programs that will align community college curricula with the needs of high-wage, high-demand industries.
It will provide community colleges with the tools to replicate programs that are successfully educating and training students and workers for these skilled jobs.
And it will fulfill an important priority for the business community who has continually understood the value community colleges have in training a highly-skilled workforce and helping meet local employment needs.
That’s why this historic initiative has strong support from the business community, including the Business Roundtable.
H.R. 3221 also recognizes that creating better educational opportunities demands that we invest in our students long before they reach college. Ms. Hirono has provided a lot of leadership in this area – and I’d like to thank her for helping us craft this part of the bill.
Today, almost 12 million children under 5 regularly spend time in child care.
Yet, despite the fact that children’s early experiences have lasting effects on brain development, learning, and success, our nation hasn’t adequately invested in early learning opportunities.
Federal and state policies leave families with a patchwork system of children care with mediocre quality.
And by age 4, children from low-income families are already 18 months behind their more advantaged peers.
Economists, business leaders, and experts agree that smart investments in early education are vital to closing the achievement gap and preparing children to thrive in school and in life.
This bill heeds that advice. It invests $8 billion over 8 years in competitive grants to challenge states to transform early learning practices and build comprehensive high-quality early learning systems for children from birth to age 5.
To qualify, states will have to demonstrate progress on major reforms by:
- Building an effective and well-compensated early childhood workforce;
- Integrating key quality standards;
- Improving instructional practices, and
- Better supporting parents in the early education of their children.
Finally, this legislation ensures that every student can learn in a safe, healthy, energy-efficient and modern classroom by renovating and repairing our nation’s schools – provisions that have long been championed by Mr. Chandler, Kildee and Loebsack.
This is a measure that the House has already voted to support, but not to fund.
Not only will this improve the quality of education for our children, it will bolster our economy by supporting new jobs in the construction industry.
All of these reforms are paid for – at no cost to taxpayers – by making common-sense changes to our student loan programs that will achieve two crucial goals at once.
By converting all new federal student loans to the Direct Loan program starting in July 2010, we will finally end wasteful taxpayer subsidies that are keeping a broken system afloat.
We will also insulate all federal college loans from future turmoil in the financial markets.
Students will have access to the low-cost loans they need, in any economy.
Our bill also upgrades the customer service borrowers receive when repaying their loans.
Rather than force private industry out of the system, we maintain jobs and a role for lenders and non-profits by allowing them to compete for contracts to service these loans.
This simple change will save $87 billion over ten years.
And, as part of our efforts to invest in a brighter future for our children, we will direct $10 billion of these savings to reduce entitlement spending.
The choice before us is clear. We can either keep sending these subsidies to banks – or we can start sending them directly to students.
No child in America should have to mortgage their future to pursue their dreams.
This legislation will help us rebuild an economy where every child can enjoy the promise of equal opportunity, become part of our middle-class and fulfill their own American Dream.
I urge all my colleagues to support it.
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