[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12763-12764]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1545
                 NEED-BASED EDUCATIONAL AID ACT OF 2015

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 1482) to improve and reauthorize provisions relating to the 
application of the antitrust laws to the award of need-based 
educational aid.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                S. 1482

       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 ``Need-Based Educational Aid 
     Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. EXTENSION RELATING TO THE APPLICATION OF THE 
                   ANTRITRUST LAWS TO THE AWARD OF NEED-BASED 
                   EDUCATIONAL AID.

       Section 568 of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 
     (15 U.S.C. 1 note) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)--
       (A) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``or'' after the 
     semicolon;
       (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``; or'' and inserting a 
     period at the end; and
       (C) by striking paragraph (4); and
       (2) in subsection (d), by striking ``2015'' and inserting 
     ``2022''.

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


                             General Leave

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous materials on the bill currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  S. 1482, the Need-Based Educational Aid Act of 2015, continues an 
antitrust exemption that is set to expire on September 30, 2015. The 
exemption allows participating colleges and universities to collaborate 
on a set of criteria to determine applicants' needs for private 
financial aid.
  To be clear, this exemption does not apply to Federal financial aid, 
only to aid directly provided by the participating colleges and 
universities.
  The Antitrust Modernization Commission generally cautioned against 
antitrust exemptions and recommended that Congress closely examine any 
proposed antitrust immunities.
  The antitrust exemption continued by S. 1482 has been in place since 
1992. Over the past 23 years, Congress has extended the antitrust 
exemption on four separate occasions, each time with broad, bipartisan 
support.
  Additionally, the Government Accountability Office conducted a study 
to determine whether the exemption adversely impacted the affordability 
of college and concluded that it did not.
  While S. 1482 continues the existing antitrust exemption, it also 
narrows it in recognition of the fact that one of the practices allowed 
by that exemption has not been utilized by participating colleges and 
universities. Accordingly, the legislation limits the scope of 
antitrust exemption to those activities that colleges and universities 
truly need and use.
  Given the lengthy legislative record, the narrowed scope of the 
exemption, the GAO study on the effects of the bill, and the 7-year 
sunset included in the bill, I believe that S. 1482 proposes a safe 
extension of a reasonable and worthwhile antitrust exemption.
  I thank the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Congressman 
Smith, for introducing the House version of this legislation, H.R. 
2604, which the Judiciary Committee ordered favorably reported without 
amendment.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 1482, the Need-Based Educational Aid Act of 2015, 
would extend an exemption to the Federal antitrust laws that permits 
some of our Nation's most prestigious colleges and universities to 
agree to admit students on a need-blind basis and award financial aid 
to students with the most demonstrated need.
  I am pleased to serve as the lead Democratic cosponsor of the House 
companion to this bipartisan legislation. S. 1482 allows colleges and 
universities that admit students on a need-blind basis to collaborate 
on the formula they use to determine how much families can pay for 
college.
  This exemption was first enacted in 1992, and since then, Congress 
has reauthorized it four times without opposition, most recently in 
2008.
  In addition to allowing collaboration on a common formula for 
calculating an applicant's ability to pay for college, the exemption 
also allows academic institutions to agree to award aid only on the 
basis of financial need.
  In other words, this exemption ensures that the most qualified 
students may attend some of our Nation's most prestigious schools, 
regardless of family income. This is especially important for low-
income students, who should not be forced to choose between academic 
institutions on the basis of financial need or financial aid alone.
  While I think we could do more to empower students through better 
funding of higher education, this legislation is critical to preserving 
a level playing field for students at these institutions through a 
need-blind admissions process.
  The 568 Presidents' Group, a coalition of 23 prestigious colleges and 
universities that support need-based financial aid, strongly supports 
this bill.
  In a letter sent to the Judiciary Committee earlier this year, the 
568 Presidents' Group stated that the exemption allows institutions to 
maximize the allocation of financial aid to ``ensure that those funds 
are targeted to benefit the students with the greatest financial need 
and to reduce or, in some cases, eliminate debt loads on graduation.''
  Similarly, the presidents of Duke and Cornell have written in support 
of this legislation, stating that the exemption ``makes a real 
difference for our students'' and is essential to developing the ``best 
practices to calculate institutional aid awards.''
  We should move quickly to adopt this legislation and ensure that this 
important exemption does not expire.
  In closing, I thank my colleague Congressman Lamar Smith, the former 
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for his steadfast leadership on 
this bill since the 105th Congress and during this Congress.
  I also thank my Senate colleagues, Senate Judiciary Chairman Leahy 
and Ranking Member Grassley, for their leadership on the bill.
  I encourage my colleagues to support S. 1482, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Science 
Committee, the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and the 
chief sponsor of the House version of this legislation.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me thank my friend from 
Virginia, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte, for 
yielding me time and also for bringing this bill to the House floor.
  I support S. 1482, the Need-Based Educational Aid Act. As the author 
of the identical House bill, I am pleased that we are considering it 
today.
  The Need-Based Educational Aid Act extends the current antitrust 
exemptions set to expire on September 30 for another 7 years. It allows 
a limited number of private universities that admit students on need-
blind basis to award financial aid from the schools' own funds, based 
entirely on students' demonstrated financial need.
  This bill authorizes these institutions of higher education to use 
common principles to assess students' financial need, and it allows the 
schools to use a common financial aid application form.
  It also permits multiple schools that have accepted the same student 
to

[[Page 12764]]

award the same assistance. This ensures that the student selects the 
college that is the best fit, rather than the school that offered the 
most financial aid.
  This issue has long been of interest to me personally, having worked 
on three previous extensions. Common treatment of this narrow category 
of educational aid makes sense. A Government Accountability Office 
study previously found that there has been no abuse of the antitrust 
exemption and that tuition has not gone up as a result.
  The Need-Based Educational Aid Act helps ensure that financial aid is 
available to students solely on the basis of demonstrated need. 
Students who otherwise qualify should not be denied the opportunity to 
access higher education due to limited financial means. S. 1482 
protects this need-based aid and need-blind admissions.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Georgia, Hank 
Johnson, a member of the Judiciary Committee, for being the original 
coauthor of the identical House bill and for his leadership on this 
particular issue.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Need-Based Educational Aid Act.
  Again, I thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee for bringing 
it to the House floor.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I would, at this time, like to thank my chairman, Bob Goodlatte, of 
the Judiciary Committee, for his expeditious bringing of this 
legislation to the committee and now to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia; the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Smith); the ranking member, Mr. Conyers; and others for this very 
bipartisan legislation.
  I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 1482.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________