[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 137 (Monday, December 6, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H10914-H10915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      AMENDING THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE ACCESS ACT OF 1999

  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 4012) to amend 
the District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999 to reauthorize for 
5 additional years the public school and private school tuition 
assistance programs established under the Act.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Senate Amendments:
       Page 2, line 7, strike ``10 succeeding'' and insert ``7 
     succeeding''.
       Page 2, line 11, strike ``10 succeeding'' and insert ``7 
     succeeding''.
       Amend the title so as to read: ``An Act to amend the 
     District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999 to 
     reauthorize for 2 additional years the public school and 
     private school tuition assistance programs established under 
     the Act.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) and the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia (Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis).


                             General Leave

  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4012.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4012, legislation 
to authorize the District of Columbia College Access Act for 2 
additional years.
  The College Access Program has been a key component of the District's 
revitalization efforts in recent years. It is critical that Congress 
continue to support its partnership with the District of Columbia in 
providing access to higher education resources and opportunities.
  Congress established the D.C. College Access Program in 1999 for two 
primary reasons. First, the program addressed the fact that the 
District of Columbia does not have a State university system like most 
States do for its high school graduates. The program essentially 
leveled the playing field for high school graduates in the Nation's 
Capital by enabling them to attend colleges and universities around the 
country at instate tuition rates. This is State universities around the 
country.
  The program's second purpose was to deter tax-paying families in the 
District from moving to surrounding States in order to take advantage 
of instate higher education options available to residents in other 
States that were not available to District residents at the time that 
would deprive the District of very much needed stability in tax revenue 
should they leave the jurisdiction.
  I cannot tell you how many mothers and fathers have approached me to 
say thank you. We were going to have to leave the District of Columbia 
so our kid could go to college, but thanks to this program we can stay; 
or young people from the district that come up to me and say thank you 
for this act. I am now able to afford to go to a good college.
  At a Committee on Government Reform hearing on this program last 
March, it is clear that the program has been more than an anecdotal 
success over the past 5 years. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams testified 
that since creation of the program, the number of high school graduates 
in the District continuing on to college has increased 28 percent. The 
national average over the same period was an increase of approximately 
5 percent.
  The impact of the College Access Program is undeniable. According to 
a survey of high school graduates in the District, the vast majority of 
students who have received assistance through the program have 
indicated that the existence of the grants made a difference in their 
decision to attend college and was a key factor in deciding which 
college to attend.
  H.R. 4012 represents a shot at a better education and, in turn, a 
better life for hundreds of D.C. students.
  The House passed a 5-year authorization for the program in July, but 
after discussions with the other body, we have agreed to limit the 
reauthorization to 2 years while we in Congress continue to work with 
the city to refine the scope and the mission of the program.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4012 and to 
continue to support a level playing field for high school graduates in 
the District.
  I also want to acknowledge my friend and colleague, the gentlewoman 
from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for her help in starting 
this bill and working through this legislation today as we reauthorize 
it, and my colleague, the gentleman from Alexandria, Virginia (Mr. 
Moran), who has also been very helpful and instrumental in getting this 
legislation originally established and reauthorizing it today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the kind words and acknowledgement of the 
chairman. I particularly appreciate the strong leadership he has given 
this bill from its inception and the continuing strong leadership he 
has afforded this absolutely vital bill to the residents of the 
District of Columbia.
  Led by my good friend, the chairman of the Committee on Government 
Reform, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis), the District of 
Columbia College Access Act of 1999 has

[[Page H10915]]

always passed with bipartisan sponsors in the House and Senate and 
consistently strong support from Members of both bodies. We are 
particularly indebted to the chairman, who, because of the importance 
of higher education to those who live and work in this white-collar 
region, has always made this bill a priority of the committee.
  This year he performed an additional critical act of leadership. When 
a problem arose in the Senate after the bill was approved in committee, 
he forged an acceptable compromise. The champions of the bill in the 
Senate have been a chairman, Senator George Voinovich and his ranking 
member, Senator Dick Durbin of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over 
the District of Columbia, as well as the Chair of the Senate Committee 
on Governmental Affairs, Senator Susan Collins and the ranking member, 
Senator Joe Lieberman.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to express special gratitude to President Bush, 
who came to office several years after the law was in effect, saw the 
evidence of its exceptional success, and has continued to fund it in 
his budget at authorized levels.
  The act, which partially funds college tuition through tuition access 
grants, or TAG, gives D.C. residents opportunities for college 
attendance that other Americans already enjoy through their State 
university systems. Because the District has no State university 
system, TAG substitutes for such a system by allowing D.C. residents to 
attend the public colleges in the States at instate tuition rates, 
subsidized up to $10,000. In the alternative, our students may receive 
$2,500 to attend private colleges at historically black colleges or 
universities in the city or region or other private colleges, 
provisions that also imitate what some States allow.
  Already some 6,000 D.C. students have attended more than 150 colleges 
nationwide because of funds provided by the act. There are two 
particularly gratifying results from the first years of the Act. First, 
college attendance in the District has increased by 28 percent compared 
with only 11 percent nationally. Second, the act has been important to 
keeping tax-paying residents in the city and stemming the large and 
disastrous taxpayers' losses of the past three decades, particularly of 
parents who often left for the suburbs when their children were in 
reach of college age, rather than deny their children the benefits of a 
lower-cost, high-quality State university system. The high cost of 
tuition is a significant reason many residents left the District and 
others refuse to settle here.
  The evidence of the success of the program and the return on the 
dollar to residents, to the city itself and to the Federal Government 
is not in dispute. Close monitoring by the GAO, by the committee and by 
our office have shown that TAG has been well run. TAG is universally 
popular among D.C. residents and businesses because of the act's 
simultaneous and immediate benefits to higher education in the District 
and, therefore, to the economic stability and viability of the city 
itself.
  The program is an unqualified success and continues to exceed all 
expectations. The program has proved itself in becoming a valuable 
catalyst to where it is most needed. TAG deserves reauthorization, and 
I strongly urge its passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the 
Committee on Government Reform for yielding me time, but particularly 
for his leadership on this bill and the preceding bill.
  This bill provides opportunities to young people who have already not 
only graduated from high school, but showed exceptional academic 
achievement. Many of them had to overcome social and economic barriers 
that we would never want or expect our own children to be able to cope 
with, let alone overcome. It's not fair that in the District of 
Columbia they do not have the opportunities that many of our children 
in the suburbs have. To make at least this very important access to 
higher education available to them at a very reasonable cost is a 
terribly appropriate thing to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leadership of the gentlewoman from the 
District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) on behalf of her constituents and the 
leadership of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) on behalf of 
the Congress to make sure that this legislation gets through.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  In closing, I want to say that the two gentlemen from which we just 
heard on the bill, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran) who just 
spoke, and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) who has led the 
bill, are both from this region.
  This may be the most white-collar region in the United States. When 
District of Columbia residents did not have access to its State 
university system, it hurt the entire economy of the region because it 
meant the critical core of the region could not provide the same State 
university systems that are very beautifully provided in Maryland and 
Virginia. So one part of the region could not contribute to the 
economic viability of the region.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate particularly their work in understanding 
how vital the District's contribution was and is, and that it cannot be 
made except through higher education of the kind that is expected 
through this region.
  Finally, a word about the Chair. This bill was finally passed in the 
Senate only in the lame duck session. It has been passed here because 
the chairman had smoothly led its passage in the House. It did not have 
a bit of controversy here. There were some changes made after some 
consultation with the House with the Senate, and all was well; and at 
the last minute a very small problem arose in the Senate. But when one 
person raises a problem in the Senate, that can mean the end of an 
entire bill. So I do want to say right here on this floor that the work 
of the chairman when we brought this to his attention that all efforts 
in the Senate to solve this one problem with one Member had failed for 
reasons no one could put their finger on, that his own creative sense 
of compromise is what rescued the bill in the Senate.
  I want to express my deep appreciation for his work in the midst of 
the lame duck session, to think of what might be done, and then to 
speak with the Member in the Senate who raised an issue, and then to 
come forward with a compromise that has proved acceptable to all. We 
are very grateful for that, because without that work on the part of 
Chairman Davis, we would not be here.

                              {time}  1530

  This bill would not be authorized, and we would not be able to get 
the full amount which has already been passed by the appropriation 
committees on both sides into the President's budget when it comes here 
in January.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I thank my colleagues for their kind words and their efforts in 
working together on this legislation, and I would urge all Members to 
support the Senate amendments to H.R. 4012.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) that the House 
suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill, H.R. 
4012.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate amendments were 
concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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