A bill passed by the U.S. Senate on Nov. 1 that calls for dramatic budget cuts to higher education stalled in the House of Representatives last week as Republican supporters admitted they lacked the votes to pass the “budget reconciliation” bill in the face of strong opposition from college groups. The bill’s authors, also said they plan to return the bill to a vote this week.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, would cut $36 billion from mandatory spending. That would include $17 billion from student financial aid, the largest cut in the student aid program’s history.
The legislation, nicknamed the “Raid on Student Aid” by Democratic opponents, follows a recent parallel measure approved by the House Budget Committee. The previous bill cut $50 billion in mandatory spending, including $14 billion from student loan programs.
“To make up for Republican mismanagement of the federal budget, the [legislation] forces students to give up $11 billion worth of financial aid to help reduce the massive federal budget deficit,” Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, stated in a press release. “This bill treats students as if they are responsible for Republican fiscal mismanagement.”
Senate Republicans have downplayed the bill’s impact on students, saying that it will create more aid for students through grants.
“No student will receive any less aid because of reconciliation,” said Ryan J. Taylor, a spokesman for the H.E.L.P. Committee. “In fact, the Senate bill would spend more than $12 billion on new aid for students. The Senate reconciliation bill would provide most of that aid in the form of grants to students.”
UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox has been one of the few university chancellors nationally to be vocal in her protest of the legislation, sharing the Democrats’ sentiment that students should not have to pay for the budget deficit.
“[Chancellor Fox] doesn’t believe that students should bear a disproportionate share of the sacrifice called for by this bill,” university spokeswoman Stacie Spector said.
However, Fox donated $500 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee last February, as well as $1,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2000.
The UC system has also worked on behalf of students to assure that grants make up for the financial aid money that students will lose from the bill, according to UCSD Director of Financial Aid Vincent De Anda.
“We have worked hard at the federal and state level to be sure that there are appropriate increases in grant funding to deal with increases in costs,” De Anda said. “We would like to reduce the amount a needy student has to borrow as a percentage of total costs.”
The fight to alleviate students’ financial burdens has been hard, according to De Anda.
“UC has been lobbying hard to affect legislation, both in the reauthorization bill and the reconciliation bill, that is detrimental to our students,” he said. “This has been an uphill battle, given the present budget situation. Also, the effect of Katrina and other disasters have increased the cuts to the educational programs.”
The H.E.L.P. Committee also emphasized the bill’s benefits to taxpayers, the health of the economy and the well-being of Hurricane Katrina victims, Taylor said.
“[Reduced] federal spending … will benefit taxpayers and their children, who won’t have to finance the debt,” he said. “In addition to the savings, spending was included to help students affected by Hurricane Katrina.”
According to a Nov. 1 H.E.L.P. Committee press release, the largest portion of the Hurricane Katrina funding under the amendment will aid the transition of students into new schools, both public and private, through one-time emergency aid.
The funds will also finance the costs of enrolling displaced students in new schools, supporting basic instruction, purchasing educational materials and supplies, and helping schools temporarily expand facilities to relieve overcrowding.
“Through the savings in this reconciliation bill, we have the opportunity not only to authorize programs that will serve the thousands of children affected by Hurricane Katrina, but to defer the costs required to meet their education needs,” Enzi stated in the press release.
Central to the H.E.L.P. Committee’s support of the amendment is their interest in reducing the nation’s overwhelming debt, which they argue will foster higher education opportunities in the future.
“This amendment will improve the economy in a number of significant ways. It will help provide access to future generations of college students, who will help keep the country competitive,” Taylor said. “It also reduces the deficit, so the country will not be financing as much debt though foreign investment.”
Democratic opponents of the legislation remain vocal in their assertion that students should not have to sacrifice the majority of the funds necessary to even out the deficit and provide relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
“It is wrong to make low- and moderate-income college students and their families bear the burden of misguided policies and misplaced priorities that have run up the budget deficit,” Miller stated. “But that’s what the Republican ‘Raid on Student Aid’ does.”
As the bill moves through the House of Representatives this week, Democrat opponents hope to muster the support of a few Republican representatives to block the legislation.
“It represents a significant step backwards when it comes to creating college opportunities for all qualified students,” Miller stated. “And it presents a false choice between fiscal responsibility and college affordability.”
