[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PELL GRANT FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Keller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KELLER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in favor of a part 
of President Bush's budget that receives no fanfare or publicity, and 
that is Pell grants. Pell grants are dollars that we give to children 
from low- and moderate-income families to help them go to college. I 
personally would not have been able to go to college without Pell 
grants, and I serve as chairman of the Congressional Pell Grant Caucus.
  When I was elected to Congress in 2000, I made increasing Pell grant 
funding my top priority, and with this budget, President Bush has done 
his part, too.
  Now, I have heard some people complain that maybe the President and 
Congress are not doing enough to increase Pell grants, so I am here 
today to provide a little straight talk regarding Pell grant funding.
  Let us begin by comparing funding situations in 2000 with the 
President's current budget proposal. As Members can see, we have 
increased Pell grant funding overall by 137 percent since the year 2000 
from $7.6 billion to $18 billion. We have also increased the individual 
awards from $3,300 to $4,150 with an extra $1,000 for those smart kids 
who qualify under the Pell Grant Plus Program by taking rigorous 
courses. And we also have an additional 1.6 million students who are 
now eligible for Pell grants, an increase of 41 percent.
  Some say that maybe we should be doing even more than this. Well, let 
us compare the history. Over the past 20 years, we have had Pell 
grants, demonstrated here based on the Democratic-controlled Congress 
in yellow from 1986 to 1995, and the Republican Congress afterwards. As 
Members can see before Republican control of Congress, the Pell grant 
level remained flat at or around $2,300, and increased dramatically up 
to $4,150 today, with an extra $1,000 for those who qualify for the 
Pell Grant Plus Program.
  Some say, why just a $100 increase for students, why not more? Well, 
for every $100, it costs the taxpayers $400 billion to pay for it. We 
also have the especially large challenge of having the largest number 
of high school graduates in history, and it is going up and up and up 
until the year 2008, and then it will decline.
  The third challenge is we face a Pell grant deficit of $4.3 billion 
that made these increases hard. President Bush's budget pays that Pell 
grant deficit off.
  The final chart I would like to show is showing the overall Pell 
grant funding for the past 10 years. As Members can see, in 1996 Pell 
grants were funded at $4.9 billion. Under this budget just announced by 
the President, Pell grants are funded at almost $18 billion. In other 
words, we have more than tripled funding for Pell grants over the past 
10 years.
  Members will also note that the amount we spent last year, $12.4 
billion, has been increased 45 percent to $18 billion, the largest 
increase in any domestic program.
  As we look to the future, the President's budget indicates that we 
are going to raise Pell grants by $500 over a 5-year period, and an 
additional $1,000 will be funded through the Pell Grant Plus Act, 
legislation I filed, and which President Bush's budget fully funds.
  Mr. Speaker, Pell grants are truly the passport out of poverty for so 
many worthy young people. Not only is increasing Pell grants the right 
think to do for young people, to help low-income college kids fulfill 
their American Dream; it is the right thing to do for the Treasury. By 
investing $13 billion in Pell grants, it helps generate over $85 
billion a year in additional revenue because the average college 
graduate makes 75 percent more than the average high school graduate.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope our colleagues on both sides of the aisle will 
understand and appreciate our efforts to increase funding for Pell 
grants and will vote ``yes'' on this budget.

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