[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26857-26860]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       EXTENDING DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE ACCESS ACT OF 1999

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 1124) to extend the 
District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:
     On page 2, after line 11, insert:

     SEC. 2. MEANS TESTING.

       (a) In General.--Section 3(c)(2) of the District of 
     Columbia College Access Act of 1999 (113 Stat. 1324; Public 
     Law 106-98) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon at the end;
       (2) in subparagraph (F), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(G) is from a family with a taxable annual income of less 
     than $1,000,000.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 5(c)(2) of the District 
     of Columbia College Access Act of 1999 (113 Stat. 1328; 
     Public Law 106-98) is amended by striking ``through (F)'' and 
     inserting ``through (G)''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.


                             General Leave

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia, the 
Honorable, and I wanted to say Representative and I will say 
Representative, Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton.
  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kindness in 
yielding to me, the chairman of our subcommittee who has strongly 
supported the bill before us, H.R. 1124, and has expeditiously on every 
occasion moved this bill forward. We especially appreciate it, as the 
bill is at the end point of its authorization.

                              {time}  1415

  I want to also thank Ranking Member Marchant for his help and support 
of this bill; Chairman Waxman, who, as ranking member and now as Chair, 
has strongly supported this bill; Ranking Member Tom Davis, who, as 
Chair of the full committee, now as ranking member, has co-sponsored 
the bill from the beginning with me and was instrumental in its passage 
initially.
  I want to thank in the Senate Senators Voinovich and Susan Collins, 
and of course the Chair of the full committee, Chairman Lieberman. 
These have been the chief advocates in the Senate, and they would have 
passed the bill exactly as it came to them.

[[Page 26858]]

  I think I need only say to the House, which has overwhelmingly 
supported this bill, that that support has been vindicated; that the 
President of the United States has increased the budget by $2 million, 
that he doesn't do lightly, and I think it's because of the payoff, 
payback of the investment. The increase in college attendance over 5 
years, massive increase; the 646 universities and colleges in 47 States 
and the District of Columbia where these students are now going, many 
of them would have not attended college at all. I want to thank Don 
Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post, for his work in 
encouraging millions in private dollars as a complementary program to 
this program, his is the College Access Program, which is essential to 
the success of this program because its guidance of students seeking to 
go to college, and indeed financial aid, have been important to the 
success of this bill.
  This is here because of a Senate amendment which we reluctantly 
accepted simply to get the bill through. The Senate defeated another 
amendment that would have destroyed the bill because it would have 
allowed money to go to private as well as public college. Our only 
point is to give residents the same access to the State university 
system as everybody else who graduates from high school has.
  We appreciate that the Senate has passed the bill now unanimously. 
And we ask the House to repeat its overwhelming support of the bill 
when the bill was here only a few months ago.
  Madam Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 1124, the bill that 
will reauthorize the District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999 
and extend the District of Columbia Tuition Assistance Grant Program, 
DCTAG, for an additional 5 years, and to thank the House for a bill 
that has afforded higher education to many students who would otherwise 
not have received it. I especially thank Chairman Henry Waxman and 
Chairman Danny K. Davis for facilitating early consideration of this 
non-controversial bill on suspension. A very special thanks is 
particularly due to committee Ranking Member and co-author Tom Davis 
for his strong and indispensable leadership on this legislation when he 
was chair of the full Committee and for his continued strong support of 
DCTAG.
  This legislation is already returning unusually large dividends for 
the Federal investment. DCTAG has increased the college attendance of 
D.C. students by an astonishing 100 percent over 5 years. For the 2005-
2006 school year, almost 5,000 students received funding from DCTAG to 
enroll in 646 universities and colleges in 47 States, the District of 
Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Most of these students are the 
first in their families to attend college. These documented results 
represent the City's most important progress toward developing a 
workforce that can meet the increasing education requirements for 
employment at average wages in the region. Importantly, this 
legislation has been instrumental in reversing the steady flight of 
taxpayers in the District of Columbia, many of whom left the District 
in order to gain access to the lower-cost State colleges and 
universities in the region.
  DCTAG acts as a proxy and a substitute for a State university system 
for the District, which has an open admissions State university, the 
University of the District of Columbia, but unlike every State, has no 
unified system of several colleges and universities. UDC, supported 
entirely by the City and tuitions, is itself so indispensable to the 
City that I used the opportunity provided by the CAA to achieve funded 
Historically Black College status that the City had long sought for 
UDC. As a result, UDC has received an attractive annual HBCU payment 
since 1999. However, this bill provides higher education access to 
young people here equivalent to opportunities available in all the 
States, rather than only one university, and increases the number of 
choices necessary to meet today's D.C. student population. Maryland and 
Virginia, for example each provide more than 30 different college 
options to residents. DCTAG provides up to $10,000 annually, which 
covers state college tuition at most public colleges, or provides up to 
$2,500 annually to attend private institutions in the City and region.
  DCTAG has enjoyed strong bipartisan support since it was created in 
1999. The President has shown his confidence in the program by 
including $35 million for DCTAG in his FY08 budget request. The D.C. 
State Education Office deserves special credit for working diligently 
and successfully since the bill was enacted to maintain solid 
administration of the program. The District has even moved ahead of the 
curve to foreclose any future funding shortfalls by engaging in careful 
planning and calculations, measuring expected demand and costs, and has 
made adjustments in offerings accordingly. We are particularly grateful 
to business leaders in the region, led by Donald Graham, Chairman of 
The Washington Post who was instrumental in helping to convince 
Congress of the necessity for the bill. However, Mr. Graham and the 
business leaders did not stop there. They established the College 
Access Program, CAP, which provides additional financial support. More 
important, CAP provides essential guidance and encouragement to 
students as they reach the critical time decision for college. We are 
also grateful to CAP for supplying a support network that has helped 
the District's TAG program receive excellent retention rates. For 
example, of the 1,091 DCTAG Freshman in 2001-2002, 73 percent returned 
as sophomores. Of that, 79 percent returned as juniors, 82 percent as 
seniors and 77 percent of the seniors graduated. CAP's 100 percent 
private funding by business leaders, most from the region, not the 
City, is nothing less than a vote of confidence in DCTAG that I believe 
is warranted by the legislation's documented results.
  It is difficult to think of congressional legislation that has 
brought such immediate and positive results or that is more appreciated 
by D.C. residents. To be sure, our D.C. homebuyer and business tax 
credits, unique to the District and reauthorized again last year, have 
had similar measurable and documented effects on increasing home 
ownership and keeping taxpaying residents and businesses in a City 
without a State tax base that instead must itself carry many State 
costs. However, if there are to be homeowners and taxpayers in District 
of Columbia in the 21st century, many more of them must have college 
training. The economy of this Federal city will always be tied to 
Federal jobs. The stability of the Federal sector here has been 
indispensable to many aspects of the City's economy, but too few of the 
public and private sector jobs go to D.C. residents. For example, the 
District continues to be a virtual job machine for the region. The 
District created 8,500 jobs in the last 12 months, but its unemployment 
rate remains almost twice the rate in this region. This disparity 
represents an education and training mismatch that must be eliminated 
to assume a decent future for the City's young residents.
  H.R. 1124 is one of the District's top priorities this year because 
of the program's proven benefits to the economy of the City and region, 
and especially to the City's students and families who have been 
willing to make the necessary sacrifices to meet the cost of large 
annual increases in State tuition nationwide, despite the modest family 
incomes of most of our students. This immensely successful and popular 
higher education program has proven itself. It would be difficult to 
think of a program that has returned so much to the City and the 
Federal Government for modest Federal funding. Of any measure, H.R. 
1124 deserves continuing support.
  I appreciate the strong bipartisan support and the support of the 
President that this vital Federal educational assistance program has 
received, and ask for the continued support. I believe the results 
fostered by the program have earned the support and I strongly urge its 
approval.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1124, legislation I introduced 
earlier this year to extend the District of Columbia Tuition Assistance 
Program through 2012.
  This past May, the House approved the bill overwhelmingly and sent it 
to the Senate. Last month, after adding an amendment to exclude 
families who make more than $1 million a year from participating in the 
program, the Senate passed the bill 96-0. The amended legislation is 
now pending before the House. I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Prior to the creation of this program in 1999, residents of the 
Nation's capital did not have the luxury afforded to high school 
graduates everywhere else in the country, the chance to attend public 
colleges and universities at in-State tuition rates. This program 
levels the playing field by allowing District graduates to attend 
public colleges and universities at in-State tuition rates.
  The success of the Tuition Assistance Program is overwhelming and 
indisputable. College enrollment of public high school graduates in the 
District has doubled in the 7 years since the

[[Page 26859]]

program was created from 30 percent to 60 percent, with 5,300 District 
graduates currently participating in the program. Few, if any other, 
federally funded initiatives can claim this level of success.
  The program has always received broad bipartisan support. Both Houses 
of Congress unanimously passed authorizing legislation for the program 
in 1999, and again in 2005. And the President has always supported full 
funding for the program in his annual budget request to Congress.
  The proven success of the program and the District's unique status 
make our choice simple. Congress should continue to support this 
legislation to provide higher education opportunities to high school 
graduates in the Nation's capital. I can't tell you how many parents 
told me, ``We would have moved to the suburbs if the program didn't 
exist.''
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support a level playing field 
for high school graduates in the District. It's the right thing to do; 
it's the smart thing to do.
  I would also, at this point, like to thank, on the Republican staff, 
Mason Allinger, Howard Denes and David Marin for their hard work in 
bringing it to this moment.
  I've traveled a long road with the District of Columbia Access Act, 
from March 1, 1999, when it was introduced, until the present day.
  That road took us through the predecessor subcommittee that I chaired 
at the time, to the full Government Reform Committee, to the House and 
Senate floor, and then to the White House, where then-President Clinton 
signed the measure on November 12, 1999.
  In all of its legislative approvals the College Access Act, now known 
as the Tuition Assistance Grant Program, was passed unanimously, by 
voice vote. President Clinton had included sufficient money in his 
Budget Submission that year, and a Statement of Administration Policy 
endorsed the approach we had taken in authorizing use of those funds.
  I am deeply proud of our hard, bipartisan effort in enacting this 
measure and in re-authorizing it 2 years ago.
  My thanks to Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was ranking member of the 
District of Columbia Subcommittee in 1999, and who has worked 
tirelessly to enhance this legislation ever since.
  I would also like to thank my then-counterpart in the Senate, George 
Voinovich, for his continuing support, and Senators Warner and Durbin, 
for working with us to improve this legislation.
  The 5-year re-authorizing legislation before you today will enable 
District residents to continue to attend colleges and universities at 
in-state rates. President Bush, in his Budget Submission for fiscal 
year 2008, has included sufficient funds to make this happen.
  Then-Mayor Anthony Williams, and now D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, have 
both strongly supported this law as being very important for District 
high school graduates. As documented to this subcommittee, the 
graduation rate for public school students in the city has doubled 
since this law went into effect. We have incentivized staying in 
school.
  This law is a classic ``leveling of the playing field''. No city or 
county in the country is required to supplement its in-state rate with 
local funds, and neither should the taxpayers in the Nation's capital 
be saddled with this burden. Neither should the city be penalized for 
its own success in administering this program.
  Back on March 4, 1999, when I introduced this bill, I went to nearby 
Eastern High School with Ms. Norton. I was deeply moved by the reaction 
of the students. I will never forget how so many took our hands, looked 
into our eyes, and thanked us for introducing the original bill.
  I'm proud of all we have been able to do in the Nation's capital 
since 1995, when the city was literally bankrupt. Economic development, 
public safety, the real estate market, and so many other aspects of 
city life have changed for the better.
  But nothing has given me more satisfaction than working to improve 
educational opportunity. Fighting for equal educational opportunity is 
one of the reasons I entered public life.
  We need a healthy city to have a healthy Washington region.
  Re-authorizing this law, which has expanded higher educational 
choices, is an enormous leap forward.
  It is a strong part of our vision for the future.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Madam Speaker, first of all, I want to commend Delegate Eleanor 
Holmes Norton and Representative Tom Davis for their continued work and 
collaboration on the development of this legislation.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 1124, the District of Columbia 
College Access Act of 1999. It will reauthorize funding for the 
District of Columbia Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) program which 
will help promote higher education for high school graduates in the 
District of Columbia.
  DCTAG provides grants for District high school students to attend 
public colleges and universities nationwide at in-State tuition rates. 
The bill provides smaller grants for District students to attend 
private institutions in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and to 
attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities, HBCUs, nationwide.
  The impact of this legislation on the community and in the lives of 
the students who receive the grant cannot be minimized. DCTAG reaches 
students and communities where there is little hope of being able to 
obtain a college education. This is particularly true for many of the 
students that participate in DCTAG; 58 percent of the students that 
participate in the program come from low-income households. 
Furthermore, students that participate in the program are attending 
educational institutions that are known to nurture students of color. 
Five of the top 10 private schools these students attend are 
Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Hampton University, 
Morehouse College, Virginia Union University, and St. Augustine's 
College and Bennett College.
  While students from all races participate in the program and attend 
over 270,000 institutions in 47 States, including nationally recognized 
public institutions like the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the 
University of Illinois at both Chicago and Champaign-Urbana, the 
University of California Berkley, and the Ohio State University, this 
program serves a community that is lacking resources, especially for 
students of color from low-income households.
  On March 22, 2007, the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal 
Service and the District of Columbia held a hearing on DCTAG. During 
the hearing, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, parents of DCTAG 
students, and former DCTAG scholars testified to the benefits of the 
program. DCTAG has helped thousands of D.C. residents achieve their 
dream of attending college. If not for DCTAG, many of these students 
would not be able to afford the rising cost of a college education. The 
DCTAG program helps to turn dreams into realities.
  Madam Speaker, again I want to commend ranking minority member, 
Representative Tom Davis, and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton for 
introducing this legislation.
  I want to end by suggesting that, given the fact that there is only 
one public institution of higher learning in the District of Columbia, 
that many of these young people would never have the opportunity to 
attend traditional State colleges and universities were it not for the 
DCTAG program. I urge its passage.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Let me thank my colleague from Illinois 
for helping to shepherd this through today, and of course my friend 
from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) who has been there from the 
beginning. This legislation at the very beginning had some tough 
sledding moving it through both Houses of the Congress. And also our 
thanks to Don Graham, who is really the father of this. The idea 
originated with him and he brought it to our attention early on in our 
congressional careers, and we are able to move it forward. But he 
brought a lot of bipartisan support from the business community to 
bear.
  I urge adoption of the bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) that the House suspend the rules 
and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 1124.

[[Page 26860]]

  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the Senate amendment was concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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