WASHINGTON - The House Education and Labor Committee completed work Thursday on legislation to set higher education policy for the next five years. Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) noted that several of his key initiatives were included in the bill, which was approved in committee by a strong bipartisan majority.
Petri 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, Petri joined with Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) to develop a provision that would 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 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.
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