[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 194 (Thursday, December 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6885-S6886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               FUTURE ACT

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today, the Senate passed a solution 
that Senator Murray and I reached to permanently fund historically 
Black colleges and universities and other minority serving 
institutions.
  It is hard to think of a piece of legislation that would have more of 
a lasting impact on minority students and their families than this 
bill.
  This legislation does two things:
  First, it provides permanent funding--that is fully paid for--for 
HBCUs and other Minority-Serving Institutions attended by over 2 
million minority students.
  Second, after 5 years of bipartisan effort, it greatly simplifies the 
free application for Federal student aid--the

[[Page S6886]]

FAFSA--that 20 million families, including 8 million minority students, 
fill out every year to qualify for Federal student aid.
  This bipartition provision--which was sponsored by Senators Murray, 
Whitehouse, and Gardner when it passed the Senate by unanimous consent 
last December--stops families from having to give their same tax 
information to the Federal Government twice--first to the IRS, then 
again to the Department of Education. Students give permission to the 
IRS and the Department of Education to share tax return data, which 
eliminates up to 22 questions on the FAFSA with one click.
  It should eliminate most of the so-called verification process, which 
is a bureaucratic nightmare that 5.5 million students go through 
annually to make sure the information they gave to the Department of 
Education is exactly the same as they gave to the IRS. The president of 
East Tennessee State University recently told me that half the students 
applying to ETSU go through verification at some point.
  According to the Department of Education, it helps taxpayers by 
eliminating up to $6 billion each year in mistakes--both in 
overpayments and underpayments--in Pell grants and student loans.
  It has taken 20 years to reach this result, and it would not have 
happened without Jeff Appel, a longtime staff member at the Department 
of Education who recently passed away, and Secretary DeVos and 
Secretary Mnuchin's commitment to getting this over the finish line.
  In addition, I want to thank the staff who have been instrumental in 
getting the proposal to this place: on Senator Murray's staff, Kara 
Marachione, Bryce McKibben, Mary Barry, and Evan Schatz. Conor Sheehey 
with Senator Scott. Rebecca Howard with Senator Jones. Christopher 
Toppings with Senator Burr. Corey Linehan with Senator Coons. And from 
my staff, Robert Moran, Lauren Davies, Andrew LaCasse, Mary Catherine 
Cook, and David Cleary.
  The final step to simplify the FAFSA is to pass additional 
legislation that will reduce the 108 questions on the FAFSA to a total 
of between 18 and 30 questions and make Pell grants predictable so 
students can know how much grant aid they will receive to attend 
college.
  I and Senators Murray, Scott, Jones, Burr, and Coons worked together 
to reach this result and I am glad the Senate passed it today so it can 
be sent to the House and signed into law by the President before the 
end of the year.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, Florida is the Nation's greatest 
melting pot, with people from all over the Nation choosing to make 
Florida their permanent home. Our State has the best colleges and 
universities in the Nation, including many Historically Black Colleges 
and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. As Governor of 
Florida, I made historic investments in higher education and fought to 
keep higher education affordable so more students can get a great 
education in Florida.
  As Senator, I will continue to fight to make sure every child has 
access to a quality education at a price they can afford. Our 
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving 
Institutions are critical to the success of our State and the future of 
our children, and I will always work to support their mission.
  The best way to support our colleges and universities is to make sure 
our economy is thriving so we have the resources we need to invest in 
education. That means we have to be careful about how we are spending 
taxpayer dollars. I have concerns any time the government permanently 
funds a program, no matter what that program is. Funding anything 
permanently means there is little to no accountability or oversight. We 
must be careful to regularly review every government-funded program to 
make sure taxpayers are always getting the best return on their 
investment.

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