[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 34 (Thursday, March 4, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H988-H989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INCREASED FUNDS FOR PELL GRANTS IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about a critical 
national issue, one that affects our national security, our future 
economic prosperity, and the position of the United States as a world 
leader. I speak, of course, about the education of our children and 
their ability to afford a college education.
  Since the late 1970s, Federal grant assistance to students pursuing 
their education after high school has declined dramatically. One of the 
most significant measures of this decline is what has happened to the 
value of the Federal Pell Grant.
  The Pell Grant program is the largest need-related Federal grant 
program for students pursuing a higher education. It is considered the 
foundation program for Federal student aid. It helps students from 
families of modest

[[Page H989]]

income who would not otherwise be financially able to handle the costs 
of a college education or special career or technical training program.
  Created in 1972, the Pell Grant originally provided significant 
financial support to students. In the 1976-1977 school year, the 
maximum Pell Grant award covered 35 percent of the average annual cost 
of attending a 4-year private institution, and 72 percent of the 
average cost of a 4-year public institution.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, in spite of President Clinton's efforts over the 
past 3 years to boost the purchasing power of the Pell Grant, and the 
President deserves much credit for these efforts, but in spite of all 
of this, the maximum Pell Grant now pays for only one-third of the 
average cost of a public 4-year college, and barely one-seventh of the 
cost of a private college.
  This sad state of affairs came about from cutbacks in Federal funding 
during a period of escalating college costs and tuition increases among 
most of the Nation's public and private colleges. I firmly believe that 
higher education institutions must rein in the cost of college tuition, 
but I am equally as firm in my belief that the Federal Government must 
and has to restore the value of the Federal Pell grant.
  That is why I am proud to join with my colleagues, the gentleman from 
Vermont (Mr. Sanders) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) to 
introduce H.R. 959, the Affordable Education through Pell Grants Act of 
1999.

  This bill does one thing and one thing only: It raises the maximum 
Pell Grant award level to $6,500 for the academic year 2000 to 2001. 
This simple action would restore the value of the Pell Grant as 
originally conceived. It is twice the amount of the maximum Pell Grant 
award proposed by President Clinton, and it is the level of funding 
where the Pell Grant is meant to be.
  By raising the maximum award level to $6,500, we restore the 
purchasing power of every Pell Grant awarded to financially needy 
students, and we increase the eligibility pool for Pell Grants. This 
has an important impact on middle-income families who face the 
financial burden of having more than one child in college at the same 
time.
  Over the past 2 years, I have met many students from the Third 
Congressional District of Massachusetts who would not have gone to 
college, who would not have gone to the college of their choice, 
without the Federal Pell Grant program.
  Bethany English, who has now graduated from Assumption College in 
Worcester, Massachusetts, has stood alongside me on presentations on 
the importance of Pell Grants. Jamie Hoag, from a working class family 
in Fall River, Massachusetts, was able to graduate from Holy Cross 
College in Worcester because he received a Pell Grant. It is for these 
young people, and all the students like them, that I urge my colleagues 
to restore the value of the Pell Grant.
  I know many of my colleagues will say that we are asking for too 
much, that this is too expensive a proposition. Indeed, it will require 
about $11 billion more than what is currently in the President's budget 
for Pell Grants.
  But I would say to my colleagues that education must be the Nation's 
number one priority. The future of our economy rests on the higher 
education of our children, the future of our national security rests on 
the higher education of our children, and the future of our communities 
rests on the higher education of our children, all of our children.
  If we can find money in the budget to build Star Wars, then we can 
find the money to make stars out of our children, and to make sure that 
everyone with the ability to go to college can afford to go to college. 
If we can give billion dollar corporations special tax breaks, then we 
can certainly make sure that every student who has the ability to go to 
college gets a financial break to pay for college. If we can spend 
billions of dollars each year to design new nuclear weapons and new 
ways to make nuclear war, then we can find the money we need to 
increase the funding for Pell Grants.
  I say to my colleagues, this is an issue of national priorities and 
of national interest. I urge my colleagues to join the gentleman from 
Vermont (Mr. Sanders) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) and I 
and cosponsor H.R. 959, and restore the power of the Pell Grant 
program.

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