[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1060 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1060

   To improve the Federal Pell Grant program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 22, 2015

 Ms. Hirono (for herself, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Schumer) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To improve the Federal Pell Grant program, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pell Grant Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to restore the role of Federal Pell 
Grants as the foundational Federal investment in higher education, in 
order to strengthen the economy of the United States by improving 
opportunities for low-income students to complete higher education and 
join the middle class.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Federal Pell Grants provided under section 401 of the 
        Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a) (referred to in 
        this Act as ``Federal Pell Grants'') have historically been the 
        fundamental Federal investment in helping low-income students 
        pay for college and enter the middle class.
            (2) In the 1979-1980 academic year, the maximum Federal 
        Pell Grant paid for 77 percent of the average cost of 
        attendance at an in-State, 4-year institution of higher 
        education. However, in the 2014-2015 academic year, the maximum 
        Federal Pell Grant covered less than one-third of that average 
        cost of attendance.
            (3) The program providing Federal Pell Grants already acts 
        as a quasi-entitlement, in which both mandatory funding and 
        discretionary funding combine to maintain a maximum Federal 
        Pell Grant amount.
            (4) The Congressional Budget Office reports on any overall 
        financial surplus or shortfall in the funding provided for the 
        Federal Pell Grant program. However, in recent years, in order 
        to meet the maximum Federal Pell Grant level with the provided 
        level of funding, Congress has made cuts to the program through 
        imposing additional eligibility requirements for Federal Pell 
        Grants and limiting the availability of year-round Federal Pell 
        Grants, causing significant uncertainty and reducing access to 
        higher education for millions of hardworking college students.
            (5) Removing the Federal Pell Grant program from the 
        uncertainty of the congressional discretionary appropriations 
        process will improve student access to, and the affordability 
        of, higher education.

SEC. 4. FUNDING THE FEDERAL PELL GRANT PROGRAM THROUGH MANDATORY 
              APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 401(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1070a(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following:
    ``(C)(i) For fiscal year 2016 and each succeeding fiscal year, 
there are appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise 
appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to provide, in combination 
with any amounts separately appropriated under subparagraph (A)(ii), 
Federal Pell Grants under this section in the amount specified in 
subparagraph (A) to all eligible students.
    ``(ii) The amounts made available by clause (i) for any fiscal year 
shall be available beginning on October 1 of that fiscal year, and 
shall remain available through September 30 of the succeeding fiscal 
year.''; and
            (2) by striking paragraph (7).
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to Federal Pell Grants awarded under section 401 of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a) for award year 2016-
2017 and each succeeding award year.
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