[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 59 (Thursday, March 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          CUTS IN STUDENT AID

  (Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the cuts in student aid 
prescribed by the Republican Contract With America will cost students 
and their families an additional $20 billion over the next 5 years, 
resulting in the largest increase in college costs in American history. 
Stafford loans, work-study programs, supplemental education opportunity 
grants and Perkins loans are all on the chopping block in the interests 
of tax relief for the wealthy.
  Where is our moral outrage? School lunches, prenatal care, child 
care, and now education. This contract, which literally takes food from 
the mouths of children, threatens to take if from their minds as well.
  Attacking student financial aid is not only callous, but extremely 
short-sighted. A person with a bachelor's degree will average 50 to 55 
percent more in life earnings than one with only a high school diploma. 
Cutting today's financial aid will not only lower the living standard 
of our citizens, but will reduce future revenues for our government. It 
is time that Congress end its obsession with the first 100 days and 
focus on the next 100 years.

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