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Morning Briefing: House Moves
Student Aid Bill, Senate Clears Transportation-HUD Spending Measure
Friday, September 18, 2009
8:00 AM |
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On a largely partyline vote of
253 to
171, the House yesterday passed the
Student Aid and Fiscal
Responsibility Act (H.R.
3221), legislation that would amend the Higher Education
Act of 1965 by prohibiting new federally guaranteed loans from
being made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL)
program, and shifting those loans to the William D. Ford
Federal Direct Student Loan program.
"The bill achieves
significant savings by ending unnecessary subsidies to banks
that service student loans," said House Majority Leader Steny
Hoyer (D-MD) following the vote.
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Critics of the bill
argued that it represented yet another government
takeover of an economic sector and will prevent competition in
the student loan industry. "By eliminating the FFEL program,
we will lose the choice, the competition, and innovation of
the private sector," argued House Education and Labor Ranking
Member John Kline (R-MN). "That includes everything from
technological innovations to loan discounts and borrower
services."
According to the
Congressional Budget Office, the legislation would reduce
direct spending by $7.8 billion over ten years as a result of
shifting new lending from the guaranteed loan program to the
direct loan program. However, the bill would increase
discretionary spending by at least $13.5 billion over the same
period, according to CBO's preliminary estimate, of which $7.2
billion would stem from administrative costs. Another $6.3
billion in discretionary funds would be required to
accommodate the bill's boost in Pell grant funding.
The student aid
bill, which has received
strong support from the White House, now goes to the
Senate for consideration.
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Student Aid and Fiscal
Responsibility Act
House Floor
Amendments Adopted |
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George Miller - Manager's package. |
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Teague - Clarifies that all savings in the bill not
otherwise allocated go towards deficit reduction. |
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Schauer - Gives priority in awarding federal grants to
schools, states, and non-profits to encourage dislocated
workers to complete their degrees.
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Minnick - Allows servicemen and women to transfer academic
credits earned while serving in the Armed Forces between
institutions of higher education.
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Himes - Makes five minor language adjustments aimed at
strengthening the financial literacy provisions of the State
Innovation Completion Grants, Innovation in College Access and
Completion National Activities, and contracting requirements
related to private student loan servicers.
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Flake - Prohibits funds appropriated under the bill to be
used for Congressional earmarks as defined by clause 9(d) of
rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. |
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Teague - Adds veterans to the list of priority grantees in
Title V, and adds to the allowable uses of funds programs that
prepare students to enter careers in the Veterans
Administration, and occupations in energy-related fields.
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Perriello - Requires states to evaluate and report
disparities by geographic area (rural and urban) of available
high-quality early learning programs for low-income children,
and steps the state will take to address the disparity.
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Kilroy - Gives
priority to "dislocated workers" for community college and
state grants.
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Adler (NJ) - Gives
priority for State Innovation Completion grants to entities
that promote activities to increase degree or certificate
completion for students who are veterans.
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Childers - Requires the campus Veterans Resource Officer to act as a link
between student veterans and mental health care providers at
the Department of Veterans Affairs, in order to help improve
college completion rates for veterans.
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Murphy (CT) - Clarifies that states may use funds awarded as Quality Pathways
Grants under Section 403(a) of Title IV of H.R. 3221 to
establish or support partnerships with institutions of higher
education that support effective education and training for
early learning providers.
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Cuellar - Requires the Secretary of Education to conduct outreach
activities to educate students and their families about the
transition to Federal Direct Lending.
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Driehaus - Requires that states receiving State Innovation Completion
Grants have plans to increase postsecondary enrollment and
completion among dislocated workers.
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Etheridge - Clarifies that borrower services, including delinquency
prevention, default aversion, and loan counseling, are allowed
uses of grant funds. The amendment also explicitly authorizes
the Department of Education to contract directly with guaranty
agencies for funded services. |
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Reyes - Encourages community colleges to use grant money to increase
the provision of training for members of the National Guard
and Reserves, and men and women returning from active duty.
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The Senate yesterday
easily passed the FY 2010
Transportation-HUD appropriations
bill (H.R.
3288), legislation that would fund programs within the
Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development
during the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2009.
The bill provides a total
of
$67.7 billion in discretionary funding, $1.2 billion below the
administration's request and $1.12 billion below the
House-passed level. H.R. 3288 is now cleared for House and Senate
conferees to negotiate a final version of the bill.
FY 2010
Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill
Senate Floor
Amendments Adopted |
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Coburn -
Requires a study on
the total cost to taxpayers of government ownership of residential
homes. |
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Coburn -
Directs federal agencies required to submit reports the the House and
Senate Appropriations Committees to post the reports on their
respective public websites. |
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Wicker -
Allows Amtrak
passengers to safely transport firearms and ammunition in their
checked baggage.
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Vitter -
Prohibits funding to be used to restrict implementation or
enforcement of the community service requirements under section 12(c)
of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437j(c)).
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Warner -
Directs funding necessary to be used for the development,
coordination, and analysis of data collection procedures and national
performance measures under the Office of the Secretary of
Transportation for the Transportation Planning, Research and
Development program.
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Murray - Provides the Secretary of HUD the authority to
use previously appropriated funds to prevent the termination of
housing assistance to eligible families. |
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Durbin - Provides
technical and financial assistance to Illinois transportation
officials to conduct a feasibility study for consolidated
freight and passenger rail through Springfield, Illinois. |
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Landrieu - Strikes
language contained in the Consolidated Security, Disaster
Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public
Law 110-329; 122 Stat. 3601) that prohibits community
development funds to be used by a state or locality as a
matching requirement, share, or contribution for any other
federal program. |
The Senate has turned to the
$32.1 billion FY 2010
Interior and
Environment appropriations measure (H.R.
2996). Debate on the bill is expected to spill into next week. |
© Copyright
Capitol Hill Reports, Inc. (2009). No claim to original government
works.
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