|
WASHINGTON - The House Thursday voted to approve two amendments offered by Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) before passing the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137), legislation to set higher education policy for the next five years, by a vote of 354 to 58. The Senate passed its version of the bill in July, and differences between the two will have to be negotiated.
Petri noted that several of his other key initiatives were included in the House bill.
Petri succeeded with two amendments which he offered during floor debate. The first, which passed by 260 to 153, dealt with his proposal to find a proper market price for the right to make loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, also known as the Guaranteed Loan program.
Petri argues that taxpayer subsidies provide excess profits for private student loan providers who operate under FFEL. He thinks the federal government should consider auctioning the right to offer FFEL loans, thereby using a market mechanism instead of politics to determine how much of a subsidy the government needs to provide lenders in order to get them to participate.
Last year, as a part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the education committee unanimously adopted Petri's proposal for a study and pilot of his auctions concept. After negotiations with the Senate, however, Petri's amendment was replaced with a more restrictive study proposal championed by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
Petri's first amendment offered today would require the Secretaries of Education and the Treasury, in conjunction with the Government Accountability Office and the Office of Management and Budget, to evaluate the feasibility of market-based reforms as intended by the House education committee's original proposal.
Supporters of this amendment include the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Petri's second amendment, approved by 222 to 191, would make it easier for policymakers to consider the costs of the FFEL program as compared to the alternative Direct Loan program.
The FFEL program is strongly supported by the private financial institutions which receive subsidies for providing student loans. The Direct Loan program provides the exact same loans, but manages them through the Education Department without what Petri calls "an extra layer of taxpayer supported private bureaucracy under FFEL."
Petri says that those who profit from the FFEL program managed to insert an audit of the Direct Loan program containing a series of reporting requirements designed to make it appear that Direct Loans perform more poorly than FFEL loans.
"This language was clearly an attempt to undermine the Direct Loan program - boosting the guaranteed loan program's performance in comparison. This language is disingenuous and counterproductive and I believe it must be addressed," Petri said in the testimony submitted to the Rules Committee.
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," he said. "My amendment would maintain the audit and most of the reporting requirements added to the Direct Loan program, but would also require comparable audits and reporting for guarantee agencies in the Guaranteed Loan [FFEL] program. I have no doubt that the Direct Loan program will nonetheless pass the audit with shining colors and I look forward to the report. I'll be curious if the same can be said of the Guaranteed Loan Program."
During work on the bill in November by the Education and Labor Committee, Petri had won unanimous acceptance of his amendment to require the Justice Department to review any settlements the Education Secretary may enter into which cost taxpayers more than $1 million. Over the past year, Petri has led congressional efforts to fight a settlement in which the Secretary forgave $278 million in illegitimately-obtained taxpayer funds to student loan company Nelnet. Under the Petri amendment, the Justice Department would have to report its opinion to Congress and the Education Secretary before the settlement could be signed.
"For the past year, I have fought to raise awareness of the tremendous abuse of taxpayer trust relative to the egregious Nelnet settlement," said Petri. "My amendment will ensure that we prevent future abuse and lead to greater fiscal accountability at the Department of Education by requiring a better review of the massive settlements with lenders."
The bill also included a critical first step toward implementation of Petri's Income-Dependent Education Assistance (IDEA) Act, H.R. 2465, which would give students the option of repaying college loans along with their taxes. The loans would automatically be rescheduled depending on the borrower's income. The Petri provision would require the Treasury Department to study how it would implement IRS collection of income-dependent student loans and report back to Congress by Jan. 2009.
"This Treasury report will provide the blueprint for the successful implementation of my IDEA Act in the next Congress." said Petri. "The inclusion of this provision in the Higher Education Act ensures that this process moves forward."
Also, during committee deliberations Petri joined with Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) to develop a provision to make textbooks more accessible for visually-impaired college students. Petri has long worked toward increased textbook accessibility and authored an earlier law to make accessible textbooks for blind students in grades K through 12. Petri's bill was approved in 2004 as part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reauthorization.
Further included in H.R. 4137 is Petri's Higher Education for Freedom Act, H.R. 2004, that would create a grant program for the teaching of civics and history. Petri has worked on this issue since a study was released earlier this decade demonstrating a lack of basic knowledge about the United States on the part of college students.
|
