[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
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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.
____________________