[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S823-S825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Reed, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Brown, 
        Ms. Hassan, Ms. Warren, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Carper, Ms. Smith, and 
        Mr. Sanders):

[[Page S824]]

  S. 383. A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding 
proprietary institutions of higher education in order to protect 
students and taxpayers; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
and Pensions.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 383

       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 ``Protecting Our Students and 
     Taxpayers Act of 2021'' or ``POST Act of 2021''.

     SEC. 2. 85/15 RULE.

       (a) In General.--Section 102(b) of the Higher Education Act 
     of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002(b)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1)--
       (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon;
       (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(F) meets the requirements of paragraph (2).'';
       (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
       ``(2) Revenue sources.--
       ``(A) In general.--In order to qualify as a proprietary 
     institution of higher education under this subsection, an 
     institution shall derive not less than 15 percent of the 
     institution's revenues from sources other than Federal 
     education assistance funds, as calculated in accordance with 
     subparagraphs (B) and (C).
       ``(B) Federal education assistance funds.--In this 
     paragraph, the term `Federal education assistance funds' 
     means any Federal financial assistance provided, under this 
     Act or any other Federal law, through a grant, contract, 
     subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other means to a 
     proprietary institution, including Federal financial 
     assistance that is disbursed or delivered to an institution 
     or on behalf of a student or to a student to be used to 
     attend the institution, except that such term shall not 
     include any monthly housing stipend provided under the Post-
     9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Program under chapter 33 
     of title 38, United States Code.
       ``(C) Implementation of non-federal revenue requirement.--
     In making calculations under subparagraph (A), an institution 
     of higher education shall--
       ``(i) use the cash basis of accounting;
       ``(ii) consider as revenue only those funds generated by 
     the institution from--

       ``(I) tuition, fees, and other institutional charges for 
     students enrolled in programs eligible for assistance under 
     title IV;
       ``(II) activities conducted by the institution that are 
     necessary for the education and training of the institution's 
     students, if such activities are--

       ``(aa) conducted on campus or at a facility under the 
     control of the institution;
       ``(bb) performed under the supervision of a member of the 
     institution's faculty; and
       ``(cc) required to be performed by all students in a 
     specific educational program at the institution; and

       ``(III) a contractual arrangement with a Federal agency for 
     the purpose of providing job training to low-income 
     individuals who are in need of such training;

       ``(iii) presume that any Federal education assistance funds 
     that are disbursed or delivered to an institution on behalf 
     of a student or directly to a student will be used to pay the 
     student's tuition, fees, or other institutional charges, 
     regardless of whether the institution credits such funds to 
     the student's account or pays such funds directly to the 
     student, except to the extent that the student's tuition, 
     fees, or other institutional charges are satisfied by--

       ``(I) grant funds provided by an outside source that--

       ``(aa) has no affiliation with the institution; and
       ``(bb) shares no employees, executives, or board members 
     with the institution; and

       ``(II) institutional scholarships described in clause (v);

       ``(iv) include no loans made by an institution of higher 
     education as revenue to the school, except for payments made 
     by students on such loans;
       ``(v) include a scholarship provided by the institution--

       ``(I) only if the scholarship is in the form of monetary 
     aid based upon the academic achievements or financial need of 
     students, disbursed to qualified student recipients during 
     each fiscal year from an established restricted account; and
       ``(II) only to the extent that funds in that account 
     represent designated funds, or income earned on such funds, 
     from an outside source that--

       ``(aa) has no affiliation with the institution; and
       ``(bb) shares no employees, executives, or board members 
     with the institution; and
       ``(vi) exclude from revenues--

       ``(I) the amount of funds the institution received under 
     part C of title IV, unless the institution used those funds 
     to pay a student's institutional charges;
       ``(II) the amount of funds the institution received under 
     subpart 4 of part A of title IV;
       ``(III) the amount of funds provided by the institution as 
     matching funds for any Federal program;
       ``(IV) the amount of Federal education assistance funds 
     provided to the institution to pay institutional charges for 
     a student that were refunded or returned; and
       ``(V) the amount charged for books, supplies, and 
     equipment, unless the institution includes that amount as 
     tuition, fees, or other institutional charges.

       ``(D) Report to congress.--Not later than July 1, 2021, and 
     by July 1 of each succeeding year, the Secretary shall submit 
     to the authorizing committees a report that contains, for 
     each proprietary institution of higher education that 
     receives assistance under title IV and as provided in the 
     audited financial statements submitted to the Secretary by 
     each institution pursuant to the requirements of section 
     487(c)--
       ``(i) the amount and percentage of such institution's 
     revenues received from Federal education assistance funds; 
     and
       ``(ii) the amount and percentage of such institution's 
     revenues received from other sources.''.
       (b) Repeal of Existing Requirements.--Section 487 of the 
     Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)--
       (A) by striking paragraph (24);
       (B) by redesignating paragraphs (25) through (29) as 
     paragraphs (24) through (28), respectively;
       (C) in paragraph (24)(A)(ii) (as redesignated by 
     subparagraph (B)), by striking ``subsection (e)'' and 
     inserting ``subsection (d)''; and
       (D) in paragraph (26) (as redesignated by subparagraph 
     (B)), by striking ``subsection (h)'' and inserting 
     ``subsection (g)'';
       (2) by striking subsection (d);
       (3) by redesignating subsections (e) through (j) as 
     subsections (d) through (i), respectively;
       (4) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of subsection (d) 
     (as redesignated by paragraph (3)), by striking ``(a)(25)'' 
     and inserting ``(a)(24)'';
       (5) in subsection (f)(1) (as redesignated by paragraph 
     (3)), by striking ``subsection (e)(2)'' and inserting 
     ``subsection (d)(2)''; and
       (6) in subsection (g)(1) (as redesignated by paragraph 
     (3)), by striking ``subsection (a)(27)'' in the matter 
     preceding subparagraph (A) and inserting ``subsection 
     (a)(26)''.
       (c) Conforming Amendments.--The Higher Education Act of 
     1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) in section 152 (20 U.S.C. 1019a)--
       (A) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by striking ``subsections 
     (a)(27) and (h) of section 487'' and inserting ``subsections 
     (a)(26) and (g) of section 487''; and
       (B) in subsection (b)(1)(B)(i)(I), by striking ``section 
     487(e)'' and inserting ``section 487(d)'';
       (2) in section 153(c)(3) (20 U.S.C. 1019b(c)(3)), by 
     striking ``section 487(a)(25)'' each place the term appears 
     and inserting ``section 487(a)(24)'';
       (3) in section 496(c)(3)(A) (20 U.S.C. 1099b(c)(3)(A)), by 
     striking ``section 487(f)'' and inserting ``section 487(e)''; 
     and
       (4) in section 498(k)(1) (20 U.S.C. 1099c(k)(1)), by 
     striking ``section 487(f)'' and inserting ``section 487(e)''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. 
        Scott of Florida, Mr. Manchin, Ms. Collins, and Ms. Hassan):
  S. 391. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to reauthorize 
and expand the National Threat Assessment Center of the Department of 
Homeland Security; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I come to the floor to reintroduce a 
bill that didn't get passed last Congress, a bill that deals with 
safety in our schools, a bill aimed at the disasters that come when 
schoolchildren are killed by shooters and to deal with this problem 
through a program that the Secret Service has had for decades and 
asking the Secret Service to see what they can do to apply the 
principles of that program to stop mass killings at our schools.
  Three years ago, on February 14, 2018, an unspeakable tragedy 
occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. In 
less than 4 minutes, 14 students and 3 staff members were killed, and, 
consequently, their families' and friends' lives were shattered forever 
by such a senseless act.
  Today, along with my colleagues Senators Rubio and Scott of Florida, 
Senators Cortez Masto, Collins, Manchin, and Hassan, I am proud to 
reintroduce legislation that will proactively mitigate threats of 
violence on school campuses by reauthorizing and expanding the U.S. 
Secret Service's program called the National Threat Assessment Center.
  The National Threat Assessment Center studies targeted violence and

[[Page S825]]

develops best practices and training to identify and manage threats 
before they result in violence like we saw at that school 3 years ago.
  The bill establishes a Safe School Initiative, a national program on 
school violence prevention, that will include expanded research on 
school violence. Most importantly, this legislation allows the Secret 
Service to directly equip communities and schools with training and 
best practices on recognizing and preventing school violence.
  This bill, which I hope will help us to recognize the signs of a 
potential attack way long before such an attack occurs, carries the 
namesake of those it couldn't save, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 
School mascot, so this bill is called the EAGLES Act because that is 
the mascot of that school.
  Two years ago, the Secret Service conducted a review of school 
shootings and made a very pivotal finding: All attackers exhibited 
concerning behaviors prior to engaging in an act of violence. In other 
words, it should be easy to identify these people, and, if identified, 
intervention is possible. So had these signs been recognized at an 
early enough stage, these attacks could have been stopped.
  In the wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018, Congress took steps to 
protect schools and to prevent gun violence, including the passage of 
the Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act, 
which provided funding to schools to strengthen their infrastructure to 
make it more difficult for shooters to enter schools.
  At that same time, we passed the Fix NICS Act, a law which penalizes 
Federal agencies that fail to comply with legal requirements to report 
dangerous individuals and violent criminals to the National Instant 
Criminal Background Check System so that if they are so reported, then 
they won't be able to purchase a gun. However, by passing the EAGLES 
Act, we are entering a vital third step in addition to those other two 
bills to protect our schools.
  I would like to encourage all of my Senate colleagues to support this 
bipartisan and, I think, a very commonsense bill. I hope that we can 
focus on productive measures like these rather than unfocused efforts 
to undermine lawful gun ownership

                          ____________________