[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 125 (Friday, September 29, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 EXTENSION OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2006

  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, once again, I rise today to 
support an extension of the Higher Education Act, and to express my 
concern for the dangerous direction in which this Congress has taken 
our country's college students and our nation's valued higher education 
system.
  We should be voting on a bill today that would make college more 
affordable and make a higher education attainable for Americans. Today, 
we are once again voting on the sixth HEA extension--which maintains 
the status quo--despite skyrocketing college costs and cuts to student 
financial aid earlier this year. Our students and higher education 
system will have to continue to wait for legislation improving college 
access and affordability. This Republican Congress has failed to make 
access to higher education or our global competitiveness a priority. 
This became clear to me and the families of my District when 
Republicans voted earlier this year to cut $12 billion from the student 
loan program--the largest cuts in the history of federal student 
financial aid and is further evidenced by the failure to move HEA to 
the top of the agenda.
  The only good news is in this extension. The good news is that the 
current law that will be extended today is better than the Republican 
bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, H.R. 609, which does 
nothing to make college more affordable for students--the expressed 
purpose of the Higher Education Act. In addition, this extension 
includes provisions that will make it easier for Hispanic Serving 
Institutions (HSI) to serve their students. I applaud these changes.
  But more must be done for American students and their families. I 
support Democratic plans to provide substantive increases to the Pell 
Grant and to cut the student loan interest rates in half. As a 
cosponsor of the Reverse the Raid on Student Aid Act, I believe that 
Congress can be a better partner for students and families in making 
college more affordable. We must recommit federal resources to increase 
the purchasing power of the Pell Grant and to ensure student loans are 
affordable.
  As I've stated in earlier extensions--today, this temporary extension 
is necessary, but I will continue to work to ensure that college 
students are not forced to bear the weight of this Republican 
Congress's irresponsible fiscal policies that have slashed student aid 
in order to pay for tax cuts that only benefit one percent of the 
nation's wealthiest.

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