[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 175 (Wednesday, November 16, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7590-S7593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              PELL GRANTS

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. We have just passed through a very significant 
landmark in this country which is that student debt, the burden of 
college loan debt Americans have to carry, broke through $1 trillion. 
That is $1 trillion in debt. And because of the laws that have been set 
up to favor the banks, in particular in this Congress, the debt is not 
dischargeable in bankruptcy. That is a $1 trillion burden on folks who 
required loans to get through college that they can never shake off 
that is going to stay with them for their lives, for as long as it 
takes to pay it down even when things don't work out for them. So it is 
a very significant milestone when it hits $1 trillion of this 
particular kind of very onerous debt.
  One of the responses to it is the Pell grant.
  The Pell grant helps people who can't afford college have the chance 
to go to college. It helps them pay their way through college, and it 
does so without leaving that burden of debt behind. It is named after 
Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, a Senator and a man who was 
very important to me in my life and in my development as a political 
figure in Rhode Island. He was a very dear friend and went almost 
inexplicably out of his way for me on many different occasions. I am 
deeply indebted to him. But I am also extremely proud to represent 
Rhode Island in the Senate and to represent a State that produced 
Senator Claiborne Pell and, particularly as we face this massive burden 
of debt, to come to the floor to participate in this colloquy in 
support of the Pell grant.
  I will turn to my colleague, Senator Tester, in one moment. First, I 
wish to say how important this is to individual people who wouldn't 
have the chance otherwise. I was at the University of Rhode Island just 
a few weeks ago. I met a woman named Amber, who is 29 years old. She is 
not the standard ``come out of high school and go on to college'' 
student. She is actually a mom. She has two kids. She works full time 
and she goes to school full time and she is the mother of two kids. 
This is a very busy person and a very energetic and capable person. The 
only way she can make things work in her life and enable her to be a 
full-time mom, a full-time employee, and a full-time student is because 
the Pell grant that she gets bridges the gap between what she can earn, 
what she can borrow, what she has to pay, and gives her the chance to 
move into the college-educated status.
  As we know from looking at this recession we are in right now, there 
are two economies in America. There is an economy for college-educated 
people--an economy in which the top unemployment rate is below 5 
percent--and then there is the economy for people who have not had the 
benefit and the good fortune of a college education, for whom 
unemployment is nearly twice as high and for whom the suffering brought 
on by the Wall Street meltdown and the subsequent recession has been 
much more acute.
  I will turn now to Senator Tester. I appreciate so much that he has 
come to join us today to help our colleagues, I hope, come to the 
realization that cutting Pell grants as we face our debt and our 
deficit problem would be a wild mistake, a terrible mistake, would 
undercut the progress we are trying to make, and would be one of the 
worst places to go for spending cuts. Even though I admit we need to 
make them, the Pell grant is the wrong place to look.
  I yield to my distinguished colleague, Senator Tester.
  Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Rhode Island. 
We appreciate his leadership on the issue of Pell grants. I very much 
appreciate the opportunity to address Pell grants and what they mean to 
not only our young people and to the folks who are being retrained to 
find different lines of work with the economic slowdown but also to our 
economy in general overall.
  If we are going to go to an institution of higher learning at this 
point in time, it takes money. If Pell grants are reduced or 
potentially even taken away, as some want, it takes away that 
opportunity. It takes away that opportunity for upward mobility within 
our society, within the economy. Without education, if a person is born 
poor, that person is liable to stay poor. Without education, if a 
person wants to improve their quality of life, it becomes much more 
difficult.
  When I meet with students, both traditional and nontraditional, 
around the State of Montana, the first question they ask me or one of 
the first questions is, What is the Federal Government doing to make 
college affordable? Because if one is unfortunate enough to be born 
without economic means, these Pell grants are critically important to 
be able to allow people--students, young people, folks who need to be 
retrained--to go to college and get that training, thereby adding to 
our economy and enabling them to get a better job and potentially 
become business owners and down the line.
  Why is this important? It is because Pell grants have been under 
attack in the House.

[[Page S7591]]

  H.R. 1 would cut $5.7 billion from Pell grants and 1.7 million 
students would have been denied access to education because of that 
cut. Some people in the House even call Pell grants 21st century 
welfare. It couldn't be further from the truth.
  Then, after H.R. 1 was put down in the Senate in a bipartisan way, 
the House passed the Labor-HHS bill which cut $8 billion from Pell 
grants, thereby eliminating Pell grants for folks who are going to 
school less than half time. That eliminates a good portion of the 
nontraditional students because a lot of these folks are trying to make 
a living, trying to support a family, and trying to improve themselves 
in the economic strata of this world. Some of them have been laid off.
  There is an individual, for example, in western Montana who had a 
tile business, with 27 years' experience in the tile and stone 
business. He had a family, and because of the economic downturn and 
because of, quite frankly, physical limitations in a business that is 
very difficult, he had to find a different line of work. Work had dried 
up and, quite frankly, the back was getting weak. So he was able to get 
a Pell grant, go back to school on a part-time basis, and study for a 
job where there was a job once he got out in the culinary arts--
something he had wanted to do and something that would allow him to 
support his family. Without those Pell grants, he would have possibly 
been on workers' comp or potentially making far less money.
  So when the Pell grants come forward in the House and they do things 
such as cut Pell grants, either their amount or eliminate the numbers 
available to our students across this country, traditional and 
otherwise, we are basically doing bad things to the economy, cutting 
the economy down because, quite honestly, the affordability issue is 
critically important as we move forward and people go to get retrained 
and move themselves up in the economic strata.
  The other issue, finally, is the importance to Indian Country. With 
the tribal colleges, the Pell grants are used to a great extent there. 
Why is this important? In Montana, in Indian Country, the unemployment 
rate is very high--70 percent and higher--on many of the reservations 
around Montana. Quite honestly, if we are going to dig into the 
unemployment rate across this country, whether it is Indian 
reservations or wherever, education is a key component to making that 
happen. Pell grants are a key component to giving access to our 
students, both traditional and nontraditional.
  As we move forward, we need to understand that for men and women 
alike, young people and middle-aged, who need the training to be able 
to get good jobs, Pell grants are a critical component of that.
  With that, I kick it back to the Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I thank the Senator. As my colleague knows, we have a 
very distinguished colleague from the Senate who has now gone on to be 
the Secretary of the Interior of the United States, Ken Salazar. I see 
former attorney general and now Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut has 
joined us for this colloquy, and he knows Ken Salazar was the attorney 
general of Colorado, an attorney general with both of us. Ken grew up 
on a farm in Colorado that, until his generation, didn't have running 
water and didn't have electricity. His generation was the first 
generation to go to college. When I got here, he was a Senator and his 
brother was a Congressman. It never would have happened if it hadn't 
been for the Pell grant. It was the Pell grant that allowed those boys, 
from a faraway corner of Colorado, who were eighth-generation 
Americans, to be the first generation that got their foothold in 
college and were able to propel themselves from that to remarkable 
leadership of our country. It shows what ordinary Americans are capable 
of when the Pell grant gives them that launching pad.
  I appreciate that the Senator from Montana brought up the effects on 
Indian Country as well.
  I know Senator Blumenthal wishes to say a few words.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I wish to thank my colleague from 
Rhode Island for organizing this colloquy, and the Senator from Montana 
has been a tireless advocate of opportunity for all the people of the 
United States and particularly his State. So I am honored to follow my 
colleague from Montana in this discussion.
  Claiborne Pell, whose name is on the grant, is an example of how an 
individual can make a difference in this institution. His contributions 
have left a legacy not only for himself and the State of Rhode Island 
but also for the entire country in advancing the cause of higher 
education and putting it on the map in the American understanding of 
how critically important it is and how it is evermore important today 
for the United States to compete in the global economy. It is important 
for individuals to compete within the United States. It is important 
for middle-class people to continue to have viable, healthy families. 
In fact, the Pell grant is important to the economic health and even 
the viability of our middle class. The failure to fund it and support 
it will endanger educational opportunities for middle-class Americans 
across the country.
  What we know about the modern economy is that more and more, a high 
school education alone means less and less. High school is vitally 
important but, economically, it is not enough. That is reflected in an 
overwhelming--almost an avalanche--of statistics and studies. The most 
recent issue last Friday by Georgetown University Center on Education 
shows clearly and dramatically that Americans who have only a high 
school education are less likely to have a good income and a good 
economic status.
  Workers who had a high school diploma alone, in 1973, were qualified 
for 72 percent of jobs--much more than two-thirds. Today, people who 
have only a high school diploma are qualified for only 44 percent of 
the jobs available. In 2018, that number will drop to 37 percent. That 
set of numbers is more than just a statistic, it is human lives and 
families and income--dollars in people's pockets they can spend in our 
economy. It affects particularly women who more and more shoulder the 
largest burden of changes in our educational requirements and have been 
hit the hardest in the unemployment crisis we face. In our advancing 
economy, employers need highly skilled individuals. More and more, what 
I hear as I go around the State of Connecticut is there are jobs 
available, but there aren't people with the skills to fill them. When 
we talk about a Pell grant and college degrees, we are not talking 
about only a 4-year diploma, we are talking about an associate's degree 
that enables somebody to run a computer on an assembly line or do 
welding or the other kinds of practical skills that enable people to 
fill those jobs, enable America to compete, and enable employers to 
compete successfully.
  In 2018, only one-third of the jobs available to noncollege-educated 
workers will provide a living wage. That is a statistic that ought to 
be a wake-up call to the Congress and to Washington. I think it is 
reflected not just in the overall picture but in the individual human 
stories that both my colleagues expressed in their remarks and that I 
hear from people who not only have benefitted from Pell grants but who 
hope to benefit from them, including educators who believe they are 
vital to the future of American education.
  I wish to cite a few this morning and quote first from a letter I 
received from Norma Esquivel, who lives in Greenwich, CT, and who said 
to me in her letter:

       I recently received news regarding the possible elimination 
     of the Pell Grant. As a recipient of the Pell Grant, the mere 
     thought of losing such an essential feature of my financial 
     aid package is devastating. . . . I was brought up in a 
     Latino household where the lack of money was often a catalyst 
     for stress and hopelessness. Neither of my parents could 
     afford to attend college. My father worked as a janitor and 
     is currently retired due to his debilitating Parkinson's 
     disease while my mother is a housewife.

  She goes on to talk about how her parents gave her the hope and 
aspiration to attend college and how she is now doing it at Sarah 
Lawrence because of the Pell grant.
  Gena Glickman, who is the president of Manchester Community College, 
writes to me about the students whom she meets and she sees every day 
who benefit from these programs. She says:

       Pell grants not only help low-income and first-generation 
     students to access postsecondary education and training, they 
     enable them to complete degrees and certificates.


[[Page S7592]]


  Senator Whitehouse has given us this statistic that is astonishing 
and alarming: $1 trillion of debt that our students now bear--larger 
than the amount Americans owe on their credit cards, I believe, and 
threatening not only their futures but all of our economic futures and 
the viability of our economy.
  I would like to ask my colleague from Rhode Island whether and how 
much funding is projected to be necessary for the continued viability 
of this program and for America and Americans to compete in the global 
economy?
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I say to Senator Blumenthal, one of the things that 
has taken place is that the value to the individual student of the Pell 
grant has actually declined quite a lot over the years since it was 
first initiated.
  When the first Pell grants came out, they paid for nearly three-
quarters of the typical 4-year public college tuition; 72 percent of 
that tuition. Now they are down to 32 percent; less than one-third. So 
there is a lot of room to increase what we can spend on Pell grants. I 
think it is pretty clear from what the Senator has said and from what 
Senator Tester has said that once someone is college educated, they 
step into a different economy with a top unemployment rate through this 
awful recession of below 5 percent, they step into a whole new set of 
opportunities, and they step into opportunities that have a higher 
income potential for them, all of which redounds back to the benefit of 
our country in higher revenues, in a stronger economy, and in more 
innovation and economic development.
  So we are going in the wrong direction is the way I would respond, 
and it is time, instead of doing what the Republicans in the House have 
suggested, which is to go even further in the wrong direction, even 
potentially eliminating this grant, calling it welfare, for Pete's 
sake--remember Amber. This is a woman with two children, working full 
time and going to school and what enables her to tie that together--the 
last piece, the keystone in the arch--is the Pell grant. You call that 
welfare? This is a welfare recipient? I do not think so. But that is 
the kind of attack these things are under, and it is not just 
institutions like Connecticut is famous for and Rhode Island is famous 
for--super high-end institutions that are internationally renowned--but 
it is also basic community colleges and technical colleges, places 
where people can get a solid career.
  I know Senator Tester wants to say a few words about that and then 
Senator Landrieu.
  Mr. TESTER. Yes, I do. I thank Senator Whitehouse.
  We have talked about the unemployment rate and job opportunities for 
people who get higher education. I was talking to a welding shop in 
Fort Benton, MT. Fort Benton is in the north central part of the State. 
The oil play in the east has been having some impacts even in that area 
of the State. This welding shop that is in Fort Benton--I talked to the 
fellow, and he had some issues he wanted to talk to me about.
  I said: What is one of the biggest things you have to deal with right 
now?
  He said: Right now, I could hire a half a dozen welders. I could hire 
them tomorrow. The work is out there for them to do.
  When we talk about getting this economy going again and getting 
things moving, it is so critically important we not only talk about the 
4-year colleges that develop our entrepreneurs and businesspeople but 
we also talk about the community colleges, the technical colleges, the 
tribal colleges that do a great job developing a well-trained 
workforce.
  With that, I will kick it over to Senator Landrieu.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I am so happy to join my colleagues 
who have done a beautiful job this morning expressing the importance of 
Pell grants to not only the individuals and their families but to the 
economic vitality of our Nation. I thank Senator Whitehouse, who has 
taken up this as a cause. We need a champion for Pell grants.
  I am here to help him and to help Senator Tester, who stepped forward 
to be a leader as well, to say to them that when I go back to my State 
and check--the Senator from Connecticut knows this--when I go back to 
my State, what I hear is: Senator, without Pell grants, I could not 
make this happen. Senator, without Pell grants, my parents could not 
afford it.
  It is not the whole part of tuition, but I think, as Senator 
Whitehouse has said, it is the keystone, it is the cornerstone, it is 
the centerpiece, it is the foundation of what our students--and some of 
our students who are parents who are raising two and three children, 
holding down one or two jobs--we cannot pull that out from underneath 
them, I say to the Senator. We just cannot do it.
  Secondly, I would say I know we have to find a way to balance our 
budget. I just left the Go Big Conference. I am one of the ones who is 
standing in the middle, hoping we can come up with not a $1.2 trillion 
solution but a $4 trillion solution. This is tough. This is hard. But 
one of the things that should not be on the chopping block is Pell 
grants, not because it is a government program--we have to cut back 
government programs--this is the seed corn. This is the seed corn, I 
say to the Senator, for our future vitality as a nation. We need to be 
sending more kids to college, not less. We need to be producing more 
engineers, not less; more mathematicians. This is our basic grant 
program.
  So I just wanted to come to the floor and join you all. I say to the 
Senator, I want to personally give you letters from people--children 
and adults--from my State. I have a letter from a student from Tulane 
University, a letter from a freshman named Araisa at Loyola University, 
and a letter from a young man named David, who attends Louisiana Tech 
University. These letters speak for themselves. I will put them in the 
Record, but, I say to the Senator, I wish to also actually give them to 
you because I want you to be able to hear from students from Louisiana 
as well as Rhode Island, and I tell the Senator that I want to join the 
Senator in this movement to not throw out the seed corn while we are 
trimming the hedges.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the letters I referred 
to be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Senator Landrieu, I am a third-year pre-medical student at 
     Tulane University with a major in Cell and Molecular Biology 
     and minors in Spanish and Business. . . .
       I am in support of the Pell Grant because I would like to 
     continue my education at Tulane. . . . I've watched my 
     parents struggle over the years just to enroll me into 
     private schools to ensure that I receive a good education, 
     and I seek to follow their honorable example. Their financial 
     hardships have inspired me to pursue an improved lifestyle. I 
     hope to take these obstacles and utilize them for what 
     they're worth, applying persistence, dedication, and passion 
     towards my ultimate goal of attaining a medical degree.
       I love being challenged by my classes and having the 
     opportunity to represent my hometown of New Orleans in an 
     extraordinary way, and Tulane allows for both of these 
     things. I know that with the help of the Pell Grant, I can 
     continue to study at Tulane University and someday be of 
     great service to my family and community. . . .
           Sincerely,
     Concerned College Student.
                                  ____

       Dear Senator Landrieu, My name is Araisa and I am a 
     freshman at Loyola University New Orleans. I am majoring in 
     accounting and music industry studies. . . . The Pell grant 
     makes it possible for me to go to Loyola, a university that 
     has a much higher graduation rate than the other schools I 
     was considering. The Pell grant also helps my family avoid 
     the burden of loans. I'm so grateful for the opportunity.
           Sincerely,
     Araisa.
                                  ____

       Dear Senator Landrieu, My name is David. I attend Louisiana 
     Tech University. I major in Business-Marketing. I would like 
     to create my own products and put them on the market. The 
     Pell grant makes a huge difference, because without it I 
     would not be able to afford the classes required for me to 
     receive my degree. Without the Pell grant, my plan would not 
     be what it is today actually, and thanks to the Pell grant, I 
     will guarantee success out of what I was given. I'm so 
     thankful for the Pell!
           Sincerely,
                                                            David.

  Ms. LANDRIEU. I hope people understand there are differences in some 
government programs. This is a partnership between the Federal 
Government and our own individual citizens, a partnership with them and 
a partnership with the universities, saying: We

[[Page S7593]]

believe in you. We believe in the future of our country and this is our 
investment and it should not be cut.
  I am sure the Senator from Connecticut hears this in Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I thank the Senator. If the Senator will yield?
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I agree wholeheartedly with everything the Senator 
has just said so eloquently about the importance and the partnership of 
the Pell grants, and I would like to again ask a question to my 
colleague from Rhode Island, whom I thank, by the way, for organizing 
this colloquy. His leadership on this issue has been so instrumental, 
carrying on the great legacy and tradition of Senator Pell.
  Isn't it a fact, I ask Senator Whitehouse, that throughout its 
history, the Pell Grant Program has enjoyed strong bipartisan support; 
there has been nothing partisan or Republican or Democratic about 
advancing American higher education in this way?
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Yes. That is a great point, I say to the Senator. One 
of the unfortunate aspects of the current condition we have in 
Washington, DC, is that a party that has long supported Pell grants--it 
has long enjoyed bipartisan support--has suddenly, after--what has it 
been, 30 years of support for the Pell grant--has suddenly walked away 
from it, has suddenly decided: No, we have a new agenda. Helping people 
who cannot otherwise afford college to have a chance to go to college, 
without carrying that trillion-dollar burden of debt and to be able to 
move up into the college-educated economy and into the opportunities 
and potential that creates, that is not what we are interested in any 
longer. We are interested in other things.
  Clearly, they are interested in protecting the tax breaks for people 
making over $1 million. We tried to get jobs legislation through here. 
It was paid for with a tiny tax only on the dollars over $1 million 
that people earning over $1 million earn. On the first million dollars, 
there is no difference. The second million dollars is where it started 
to kick in. No, no. We stopped jobs legislation over that. But when it 
comes to a kid who cannot afford college, that is a program they 
suddenly want to take a whack at. I think it is regrettable because 
there is a long history of very honorable, sincere, and enthusiastic 
Republican support for the Pell grant. Frankly, there is nothing 
Democratic or Republican about an American young person having the 
chance to begin to climb the ladder of success. That is a common 
American dream. That is common to both parties. Yet now, in this 
strange environment we now have to inhabit in Washington, this other 
party has decided: No, we are walking away from that.
  In the House, they tried to knock more than $1,750 out of the average 
grant. They would have put nearly 5,800 students in Rhode Island off 
the Pell grant. When we hear from people such as Amber, who would not 
be able to do it but for that--this group I spoke with at URI was so 
impressive. We had regular students who were right in line. We had the 
nontraditional students, such as Amber, who had their kids. We had 
faculty who years ago had gotten their Pell grants and now they are 
teaching others. They have made a career in academia as a result of 
that first foothold they got in higher education through the Pell 
grants. How one would want to cut it at that point by that much, when 
we have these people--it is just enough to make it possible for them. 
When we cut it by over $1,750 for a lot of those kids, for a lot of 
those working moms, it means: No, we are pulling, as the Senator said, 
the rug out from under them. They do not get that chance.
  We all win when young Americans step forward. Everybody in America 
wins when young Americans reach their full potential and create 
industries and do a great job and save lives as surgeons or nurses or 
EMTs and pay revenues through their taxes through their successes to 
support our great country.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. I would say this program is one of the most effective 
antiwelfare programs in the country that we fund in Washington. A 
student from Xavier University wrote in. This student is a first-year 
student majoring in biology, in premed. This is an African-American 
Catholic University--the only one in the country and it produces more 
premed students and more doctors than almost the largest.
  Madam President, I know we have just 1 minute. I ask unanimous 
consent for 1 more minute.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President is the product of a single-family home 
and was the only individual employed in her household. So as she is 
going to school, she is also employed, supporting the whole household, 
basically keeping them off other government programs that might not be 
as effective.
  The Senator's, leadership is to be commended. I thank him for it.
  I am going to submit more of these specific stories from specific 
students and families for the Record so people understand this is not 
politics. This is just trying to do what is smart for our country and 
to do what is right for these young people who are trying so hard.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that this material be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               Additional Stories From Louisiana Students

       Student A from Xavier University is a sophomore, majoring 
     in chemistry/pre-pharmacy. During the last two years of high 
     school, she became homeless. She relied on friends and 
     grandparents until she found an apartment during the end of 
     her senior year of high school. Then she worked two jobs to 
     keep a roof over her head. As a student without parental 
     assistance or scholarship funding, she receives $5,500 per 
     year. She would be unable to remain in college without Pell 
     Grant assistance.
       Student B from Xavier University is a first-year student 
     majoring in biology/pre-med with the goal of becoming a 
     specialized surgeon. She is the product of a single-parent 
     home, and was the only individual employed in her household 
     before enrolling at Xavier. She has paid the balance of her 
     tuition and expenses but still owes Xavier $3,000. This 
     amount must be paid before she can take her final exams. If 
     she loses her Pell Grant, she would owe an additional $5,500. 
     She is the first person in her family to attend a four-year 
     college. Receiving the Pell Grant helped make that possible.
       Student C from Loyola University at New Orleans is a first-
     year visual arts student. He had a 3.0 GPA at the midterm of 
     his first semester. He is a work-study student in graphic 
     arts and has to spend a lot of his earned money on art 
     supplies. He receives the full Pell Grant, $5,550 per year. 
     Without these funds, his mom would not be able to afford to 
     send him to Loyola, or likely to any 4-year university. His 
     mom is his primary next of kin--she is not employed and 
     currently lives in a shelter.
       Student D from Loyola University at New Orleans is a 
     sophomore pursuing biochemistry. She is from Mississippi and 
     wants to be a doctor or biomedical engineer. She has a work 
     study job on campus. She receives the full Pell Grant, $5,550 
     per year, and could not afford to be there otherwise.

  Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I will yield the floor with 
appreciation to my colleagues, Senator Landrieu, Senator Tester, and 
Senator Blumenthal, for coming together to urge our colleagues to 
support the Pell grant.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, is it time to begin the Republican 
time?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Yes.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, will you let me know when I have used 
4\1/2\ minutes?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Yes.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Thank you, Madam President.

                          ____________________