After the sea-change in Congress as a result of the mid-term elections in November, 2006, the Democrat controlled House and Senate are concluding the transfer of political power at the committee and staff levels and settling in to tackle the myriad of issues facing the Congress including Higher Education Act Reauthorization. There are varying schools of thought as to whether the 110th Congress will move the Higher Education Reauthorization Act along quickly. Unfortunately, it will compete for time and attention with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act last reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This Act expires in 2007 and Congress must reauthorize its provisions, including teacher preparation. The debate will be contentious because many stakeholders want to be involved. In addition, many congressional leaders including President Bush have argued for years that NCLB has been under-funded, an argument sure to provoke considerable debate in Congress. Due to the strong interest in NCLB, the reauthorization of the HEA, already delayed by three years, is appearing at this stage to take a back seat behind the NCLB/K-12 debates.
During the 109th Congress, HEA was extended several times (currently through June 30, 2007) and a budget reconciliation bill signed into law by the President changed HEA student loan provisions. The HEA contains all the major federal student financial aid programs including PELL, FFEL, Direct Loans and Federal Work/Study, as well as TRIO, GEAR UP, international education and Title III-A. While the Senate failed to approve a bill addressing the other provisions in HEA, the House passed its revision of HEA. The new Democratic House leadership will likely start from scratch on HEA and may expand Congressional oversight over the guaranteed student loan program. They are not likely to include provisions designed to favor for-profit colleges and college cost issues will continue to be an issue. (AASCU Analysis, Vol. 3, No. 11)
On January 23, 2007, the 110th Congress completed its first 100 hours, passing all six of its “Six for ‘06” platform including the cutting of interest rates on students, H.R. 5, the College Student Relief Act of 2007. Other bills passed include enacting the 9/11 commission recommendations, increasing the minimum wage, allowing for stem cell research, negotiating for lower prescription drug prices and investing in renewable energy.
H.R. 5, the College Student Relief Act of 2007, passed the House by a vote of 356-71. It cuts interest rates in half for new undergraduate subsidized student loans over five years beginning July 1, 2007. Interest will be cut from 6.89 to 6.12 percent in 2007. Additional cuts would become effective on July 1 each year for the next four years to 5.44 percent in 2008, to 4.76 percent in 2009 to 4.08 percent in 2010 and to 3.4 percent in 2011. The cost of the bill is $7.1 billion and is paid for by reducing lender subsidies. Rep. George Miller, author of H.R. 5, indicates that if this bill is signed into law it will benefit 5.5 million students and save that typical borrowers $4,400 in interest costs over the life of his/her loan. Now that the legislation has passed the House, it is expected that the Senate will act on its own version of a bill to increase college affordability and access, probably changing H.R. 5 substantially.
On January 29, 2007, House Joint Resolution 20 was filed to complete funding for federal agencies for FY2007 which began on October 1, 2006. Only two appropriations bills were completed for FY2007 in the 109th Congress – Defense and Homeland Security. While the remainder of the budget for FY2007 did not contain any earmarks, it did contain some good news for higher education related concerns. Pell grants were increased by $260 for a total maximum Pell award of $4,310 per student. The National Institutes of Health budget was increased by $620 million over FY2006. The Department of Energy Office of Science budget was increased $200 million over FY2006. Argonne and Fermilab are funded heavily through this account, and the labs and universities worked together to advocate for this increased funding to avoid layoffs and research project interruption at the federal labs over the summer. Most members of the Illinois delegation, after receiving contact from the major research universities including NIU, signed on to support letters to House and Senate leadership to provide this much needed funding to the DOE Office of Science.