[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 111 (Thursday, September 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H7763-H7766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STUDENT GRANT HURRICANE AND DISASTER RELIEF ACT
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3668) to provide the Secretary of Education with waiver
authority for students who are eligible for Federal student grant
assistance who are adversely affected by a major disaster.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3668
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 ``Student Grant Hurricane and
Disaster Relief Act''.
SEC. 2. WAIVERS OF STUDENT GRANT ASSISTANCE REPAYMENT BY
STUDENTS AFFECTED BY DISASTERS.
Section 484B(b)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1091b(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the
following new subparagraph:
``(E) Waivers of grant assistance repayment by students
affected by disasters.--In addition to the waivers authorized
by subparagraph (D), the Secretary may waive the amounts that
students are required to return under this section with
respect to any other grant assistance under this title if the
withdrawals on which the returns are based are withdrawals by
students--
``(i) who were residing in, employed in, or attending an
institution of higher education that is located in an area in
which the President has declared that a major disaster
exists, in accordance with section 401 of the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5170);
``(ii) whose attendance was interrupted because of the
impact of the disaster on the student or the institution; and
``(iii) whose withdrawal ended within the academic year
during which the designation occurred or during the next
succeeding academic year.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany).
General Leave
Mr. BOUSTANY. 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. 3668.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Louisiana?
There was no objection.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill to provide additional
relief to students whose higher education plans have been put on hold
as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Yesterday, the House unanimously approved a bill to ensure that
students who were forced to withdraw from college because of a natural
disaster are not forced to repay Pell grant aid. I think that bill will
provide critical relief to students who are already facing tremendous
hardships as a result of this tragedy.
I am pleased today to be taking the next critical step by providing
this type of flexibility and protection for students receiving all
types of grant aid under title IV of the Higher Education Act.
{time} 1230
We need to provide the Secretary of Education the utmost flexibility
to meet the needs of students who have lost their homes and
communities, and that is exactly what this bill will do.
Each year millions of American students gain access to higher
education with the help of Federal student aid. The Federal Government
is providing more than $73 billion in direct financial aid to students
for fiscal year 2005 in order to ensure college access for students
from all walks of life. I am proud of our tremendous investment in
higher education.
Unfortunately, the tragic events of the scope like that which we are
seeing on the Gulf Coast were not anticipated in the structure of the
Federal student aid programs. The Department of Education lacks the
flexibility to waive student aid repayment requirements for students
who are forced to withdraw from higher education as a result of a
natural disaster.
Waiver authority does exist within student loan programs, and
yesterday we provided similar flexibility within the Pell grant
program. Today, we are addressing the remaining discrepancy for other
types of student financial aid that play a critical role in providing
college access to low- and middle-income students.
The bill will protect students from being forced to repay other types
of grant aid under title IV of the Higher Education Act. Some examples
of the types of programs protected under this bill would be TRIO, GEAR
UP, and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity grants.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is but one small step in what will be a
comprehensive, long-term relief effort. However, for many students and
families this bill will provide critical relief as they work to rebuild
their homes and lives and, ultimately, as they do return to higher
education in the future.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I supported the Keller bill to offer relief to
Pell grant recipients affected by natural disasters. I rise today to
support the Jindal bill to offer relief to those benefiting from other
Title IV grant programs like TRIO, LEAP and HEP/CAMP.
It is vital that grant recipients affected by this tragedy be spared
the further hardship of repaying a grant they were never able to
benefit from. This bill represents a good first step and I am pleased
to be a cosponsor.
There is no question that we need to reassess what students and
families can actually pay for college after the disaster, since many
have lost jobs, homes, resources and valuables. In addition, we must
also address the needs of student borrowers stuck paying loans despite
job loss, lost income, and other financial hardship.
The 100,000 low- and middle-income students who depend on loans will
feel the financial crunch of Katrina. Furthermore, we must address the
needs of students with parents in the affected area, but who are
attending schools in other parts of the country. Thousands of affected
students and graduates will be unable to make payments on their
Stafford or Perkins loans.
Currently, Mr. Speaker, students in repayment who are suffering from
economic hardship can seek deferment, but we must cut the red tape by
allowing any student impacted by a natural disaster to receive an
automatic deferment of both the accumulation of interest and the
payments.
The Miller/Kildee Katrina College Relief Act does just that. This
change would save the average borrower much over the life of their
loan.
Graduates already struggling to dig themselves out of their student
loan debt must not be penalized because of this tragedy. Enrolled
students who are currently receiving Federal aid had their financial
aid package calculated based on their expected family contributions,
the so-called EFC, which includes parent contributions and
contributions of working students. With hundreds of thousands
unemployed, including the one in five undergraduates
[[Page H7764]]
who were working more than 30 hours a week to support themselves, the
calculated expected family contribution may no longer be realistic.
The Miller/Kildee Katrina College Relief Act allows these students to
have their EFC student aid packages readjusted to reflect the financial
changes the family may have suffered. Affected families have limited
resources to aid their recovery.
The little that they do have needs to go toward rebuilding their
homes and lives, Mr. Speaker, but this should not mean that their
children should have to put their education on the back burner.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the majority leadership has decided to
take up the issue of college students impacted by this tragedy. Yet,
comprehensive relief is necessary for all students with the financial
hardship.
While I support these efforts and commend the majority for doing
this, I hope Congress will soon consider a more comprehensive package
like the Miller/Kildee Katrina College Relief Act. An extraordinary
catastrophe, and this indeed is extraordinary, demands an extraordinary
solution. With over 100,000 students from many institutions displaced,
Congress must do more.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Jindal).
Mr. JINDAL. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Louisiana
(Mr. Boustany) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner) for allowing
this bill to move so quickly and their time today.
An awful thing happened in my district and an awful thing happened in
Louisiana, in Mississippi, and in Alabama. The people of my district,
the people of my State, the people of the Gulf Coast have been hit not
once but three different times. Many of them that survived the original
Hurricane Katrina were then hit by the rising flood waters due to a
levee that broke, a levee that is actually located within my district
and just a few miles from my home.
Many people that survived the rising flood waters were then
victimized a third time by the awful acts of a small number of looters,
of people committing violence, and also a lack of basic food, shelter
and medicines. We, as a body, owe it to these people to make sure they
are not victimized yet again, a fourth time.
That is why I am so proud to be able to sponsor this legislation with
so many co-sponsors. That is why I am so proud of my chairman, of the
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany), and the others that have seen
and understood the potentially devastating impact this hurricane might
have on thousands of students and their families.
Many students attending colleges and universities when the hurricane
hit have now found it necessary to withdraw from college due to the
impact the storm has had on their homes, job, and families. Indeed,
many universities in the city of New Orleans are still struggling to
figure out how or whether they are going to resume classes in the fall.
Not every institution has decided to offer fall classes. So not only
are families displaced, not only are many families without their homes,
their possessions, many universities and colleges have not yet figured
out how they are going to resume or when they are going to resume their
instructions.
Indeed, many of these institutions, many of these administrators have
not been able to go back and inspect their buildings, inspect the
damage, to even know what is left. The records, the buildings, the
facilities, many of them are still unreachable and still inaccessible.
Under current law, the Higher Education Act and our Federal financial
aid regulations require the schools determine whether students need to
refund a portion of the Federal aid they receive in the case of a
withdrawal. Our current regulations certainly did not anticipate I
think this kind of catastrophe.
The rationale behind the bill we have crafted, my bill, was to do it
narrowly and responsibly to protect low-income students who are forced
to withdraw from school because of a federally declared natural
disaster. My bill would grant the Secretary of Education the waiver
authority for purposes of the return of title IV formula funds in the
case of a natural disaster in case that natural disaster adversely
impacts title IV grant and scholarship recipients and forces them to
withdraw from their institution of higher education.
Yesterday, I was proud of this House for passing the Keller bill that
grants similar waiver authority for the return of Pell grant funds also
in the case of a natural disaster. This bill goes a step further. That
is a great first step. This bill builds on that bill. This bill allows
us to go a step further and provides waiver authority for additional
scholarship and grant funds under title IV.
What do I mean by that? This includes funds like TRIO scholarships,
GEAR UP money, Byrd Scholarships, LEAP funds. This bill, in essence,
gives the Secretary of Education the ability to exercise the waiver
authority in the event of a natural disaster declared by the President.
It is the same authority that exists for the student loan program. This
waiver authority also exists currently for institutions of higher
education; similar waiver authority exists for institutions of higher
education that are adversely impacted by natural disasters.
However, even though there is waiver authority for loans, even though
there is waiver authority for the institutions, there is currently no
authority for the Secretary of Education to work with the Nation's
neediest students in times of catastrophe caused by natural disasters.
This authority is important.
It allows the Secretary of Education to ensure that our Nation's
neediest students are not put in a worse financial situation where they
are forced to withdraw from a natural disaster.
In a previous position, I actually served as the President of the
University of Louisiana, the University of Louisiana system. In that
system was Delgado Community College. Delgado was located in one of the
areas most severely impacted, quite literally in the heart of New
Orleans, most severely impacted by the rising waters, by the hurricane.
Also in my system was the Southeastern University, Southeastern
Louisiana University, another university located in a region that was
hit fairly hard. To their credit, the faculty, the president, the staff
have been focused on rescue and recovery efforts. Southeastern has
opened up its dorms to house those that had nowhere else to go. They
are working with students to welcome them back to campus, sometimes
allowing them to bring their families who are otherwise homeless,
allowing them to bend the rules to meet human needs.
I think we as a body have an obligation to do the same thing. Instead
of just sticking to the red tape, sticking to the rules, we have an
obligation to be flexible, to be responsive, to help these neediest
students in their time of need.
I am proud of the chairman. I am proud of the different cosponsors. I
certainly hope that this passes later today with a unanimous vote from
this body to send a strong bipartisan message that we want to help
students in need; we do not want them to be victims again. They have
suffered through a hurricane. They have suffered through a flood. They
have suffered enough. Let us not make them victims a fourth time.
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr.
Jindal) for his bill and I look forward to working with him on even
broader relief.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Kildee) for yielding me time. I also want to commend the
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jindal) for his introduction of this
bill, which allows the Secretary of Education to waive grant and
scholarships awarded under title IV of the Higher Education Act for
students forced to withdraw from classes due to a natural disaster.
By applying to title IV, the bill grants relief to students in the
greatest need of financial support in assessing higher education. It
also covers students receiving Pell grants, TRIO scholarships,
Supplemental Educational Opportunities grants, GEAR UP grants, Byrd
scholarships and LEAP funds.
[[Page H7765]]
Without action, these students would face incredible financial
hardship because they would be responsible for repaying funds at a time
of incredible economic and personal difficulty. Without action, we
would be erecting barriers in their pursuit of their education.
We need to promote education in every way that we can. And I also
support this bill as a first step to helping students overcome the
barriers to education imposed by the horrific storm.
In addition, I strongly encourage my colleagues to take additional
steps to ease the educational burdens of Katrina. The Miller/Kildee
Katrina College Relief Act also grants, and I think it gives us an
opportunity to go even further, 6-month deferments to students, and
directs the Secretary to recalculate the expected family income that
they could contribute to college in light of the catastrophe. These are
excellent provisions that would greatly assist the hundreds of
thousands of students and families struggling after Katrina.
Again, I want to commend the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany)
for his introduction of this legislation. I also want to commend the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the chairman of the Committee on
Education and the Workforce and the ranking member, the gentleman from
California (Mr. George Miller), for the expeditious manner in which the
Committee on Education and the Workforce has addressed the educational
needs of students who have been affected by Katrina.
It is a good bill. I support it.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the chairman of the
Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, let me thank my colleague from Louisiana
(Mr. Boustany) for yielding me time.
I rise in strong support of this bill to provide additional relief to
the victims of Hurricane Katrina who have been forced to withdraw from
institutions of higher education as they work to rebuild their homes
and their community.
The tragedy that has befallen the Gulf Coast region in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina, the level of devastation and its impact on American
families is truly staggering; and our prayers remain with the residents
of that region as well as those who are working on relief and this
recovery effort.
{time} 1245
We are working closely with the Department of Education to determine
how we can best meet the needs of the children, families, teachers, and
schools that have been impacted by this tragedy. We have identified an
immediate need for action to assist students pursuing higher education
who are forced to withdraw because of the devastation caused by the
hurricane, and that is why we are taking action today.
I want to thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jindal) for
introducing this bill to provide additional flexibility for students
struggling to cope with this unprecedented natural disaster. The bill
complements the measure offered yesterday by the gentleman from Florida
(Mr. Keller) to protect students forced to withdraw from higher
education as a result of a natural disaster.
This bill will give the Secretary of Education a new flexibility to
waive burdensome requirements on students impacted by this or other
natural disasters. The bill would ensure students forced to withdraw
from higher education because of natural disaster would not be forced
to repay their Federal student grant aid, alleviating what could be a
major burden for students already coping with this disaster.
This type of waiver authority that we granted yesterday and then
again today already exists for the student loan programs and is being
provided yesterday by the gentleman from Florida's (Mr. Keller) bill
for Pell grants and then today by the gentleman from Louisiana's (Mr.
Jindal) bill that would allow the Secretary waiver authority for those
who may receive grant programs and scholarship programs such as GEAR
UP, TRIO, and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.
As we assess the damage in the weeks and months ahead, we will be
working with our leadership and our colleagues across the aisle to
provide additional resources and additional flexibility to the
communities impacted by this tragedy to make sure that all the
resources of the Federal Government are available to help each and
every American that has been affected.
So, once again, I want to thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr.
Jindal), the bill's sponsor, for his work and urge my colleagues to
support the bill today.
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Holt).
Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Michigan for the time.
As we look at repairs of levees and improving public health
mechanisms and so forth, many Americans might not realize that there
are other things we must tend to. I applaud the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Jindal) for recognizing that we need to help those who
are in the midst of their education. This legislation is a good first
step on the floor.
I think that the legislation offered by the gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Kildee) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and
others of us that deals with readjusting what families are expected to
pay for college for the current term and making it more than optional
for a university to recalculate families contributions and providing
deferment of 6 months for student borrowers, those additional steps I
think would be very important. I particularly commend to this body the
legislation that is offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee)
and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and others of us,
and I hope that those provisions can be added.
I nevertheless want to strongly support what the gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Jindal) has done. It will help many students who are
disrupted, whose education would otherwise be disrupted by these
activities.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished
gentleman from Michigan for the time. I might want to take a moment
just to say that I cannot thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr.
Kildee) enough for his commitment to education.
I thank my good friend from Louisiana. It looks like we meet again,
trying to improve the lives of so many that I know that you wish we in
Texas were not housing, but we thank you so very much for sharing some
of the very best people that we have ever had an opportunity to meet.
I want to say that particularly because this legislation is the kind
of legislation that I believe should be on the floor every single day
as we move toward Thanksgiving. Just imagine what life will be like for
these survivors. Thanksgiving, the Christmas holiday, religious
holidays that are coming, and literally the town of New Orleans,
Biloxi, and places in Alabama have been obliterated by this horrific
tragedy.
Many of us have spoken to the issues of an inquiry that we support to
find out what happened and when. Many of us have spoken about issues
dealing with first responders and why and when and how they could have
performed. Many of us have discussed FEMA and discussed the idea of the
impact of the military, but all of us are committed to the lives of the
victims, those who live, those who have survived; and each step of the
way we must move expeditiously to make them the focal point of this
business of this Congress.
We may disagree and my colleagues will see us vigorously disagree on
the performance of this government, whether or not it collapsed,
whether or not we should apologize to the American people; but today,
we are going to continue to stand here and unite around a solution.
The Katrina College Relief Act is that solution. It helps the very
colleges that are impacted ultimately and the families. We know there
are an array of universities in the region. I know of two in particular
that impact my community, Dillard and Southern University in New
Orleans. We are finding that my university, one of my universities,
Texas Southern University, will
[[Page H7766]]
be taking in students. The University of Houston will be taking in
Tulane students, and others are finding their way across our cities and
States across America.
So giving the Secretary of Education authority to waive the amounts
of student grants such as Pell and TRIO will be vital in terms of
students who have to withdraw from school. Directing the Secretary of
Education to immediately readjust how much these families are expected
to pay will be vital toward continuing a child's education. Providing
student borrowers who live in the affected areas with 6 months of
deferment is vital for the survival of these families.
Might I say that I hope we will come to the floor again dealing with
the under-21 age group. We know that there are thousands of children in
the Texas area, in the Houston area under the age of 15. We have
visited in those respective shelters, late into the night, visiting
with families, with babies as young as 1 month old, children who are 9
and 10, 13, 14, and 15, who are now living their lives in temporary
housing and/or in shelters.
There has to be a focus, possibly of a one-time grant, for the
enormous impact on the children of this region, on the children of
America.
So this first step dealing with the Katrina College Relief Act, and I
applaud the sponsors of this legislation, leaders of this legislation,
is just one statement that we are focused on America's children and
America's future and that, in fact, those located in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama and the impact regions have our attention. We
will not only address the questions of education but we will also fix
the provisions that will allow us to directly pay those victims so they
can get housing under FEMA and Housing and Urban Development.
This is a good start. It is a plus direction for us to take. It is a
unifying direction for us to take; but Mr. Speaker, we have many miles
to travel, and I would like to be able to offer ultimately legislation
dealing with the children who have been impacted by Katrina.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
First of all, I appreciate very much the very expeditious way in
which the majority has approached this problem and look forward to
working with them to seek an even more comprehensive way.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his cooperation in this. This
bill represents a small, but certain, step toward comprehensive
recovery; and I urge its passage.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. BOUSTANY. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask to be added as a sponsor
of this legislation, and I have to ask before the gentleman finally
closes it out, as a cosponsor.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Yes.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mrs. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill.
Hurricane Katrina has devastated children, parents, teachers and
schools from all over our country.
The school year has just started, and now thousands upon thousands of
students have been displaced.
Those which are lucky enough to have been able to begin school in
other locations are still dealing with the turmoil of being uprooted
not only from their homes but also their community, friends, and
classmates.
The instability of their situations must be incredibly difficult and
painful to deal with.
Education is one of the most important things we can provide our
students with, and it is so important to take care of our young people
in this horrible time.
Yesterday we passed a bill which would provide a waiver for Pell
Grants.
Today we are going to pass a bill which will waive other Title IV
requirements to other programs such as TRIO, Academic Achievement
Incentive Scholarship, Child Care Access Means Parents in School
(CAMPIS), Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG),
Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP/SLEAP), High School
Equivalency Program (HEP), College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP),
and the Robert Byrd Scholarship Program.
These are good first starts, but in the coming days we need to do
even more.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin). The question is on
the motion offered by the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) that
the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3668.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
____________________