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[Pages S6885-S6886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FUTURE ACT
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today, the Senate passed a solution
that Senator Murray and I reached to permanently fund historically
Black colleges and universities and other minority serving
institutions.
It is hard to think of a piece of legislation that would have more of
a lasting impact on minority students and their families than this
bill.
This legislation does two things:
First, it provides permanent funding--that is fully paid for--for
HBCUs and other Minority-Serving Institutions attended by over 2
million minority students.
Second, after 5 years of bipartisan effort, it greatly simplifies the
free application for Federal student aid--the
[[Page S6886]]
FAFSA--that 20 million families, including 8 million minority students,
fill out every year to qualify for Federal student aid.
This bipartition provision--which was sponsored by Senators Murray,
Whitehouse, and Gardner when it passed the Senate by unanimous consent
last December--stops families from having to give their same tax
information to the Federal Government twice--first to the IRS, then
again to the Department of Education. Students give permission to the
IRS and the Department of Education to share tax return data, which
eliminates up to 22 questions on the FAFSA with one click.
It should eliminate most of the so-called verification process, which
is a bureaucratic nightmare that 5.5 million students go through
annually to make sure the information they gave to the Department of
Education is exactly the same as they gave to the IRS. The president of
East Tennessee State University recently told me that half the students
applying to ETSU go through verification at some point.
According to the Department of Education, it helps taxpayers by
eliminating up to $6 billion each year in mistakes--both in
overpayments and underpayments--in Pell grants and student loans.
It has taken 20 years to reach this result, and it would not have
happened without Jeff Appel, a longtime staff member at the Department
of Education who recently passed away, and Secretary DeVos and
Secretary Mnuchin's commitment to getting this over the finish line.
In addition, I want to thank the staff who have been instrumental in
getting the proposal to this place: on Senator Murray's staff, Kara
Marachione, Bryce McKibben, Mary Barry, and Evan Schatz. Conor Sheehey
with Senator Scott. Rebecca Howard with Senator Jones. Christopher
Toppings with Senator Burr. Corey Linehan with Senator Coons. And from
my staff, Robert Moran, Lauren Davies, Andrew LaCasse, Mary Catherine
Cook, and David Cleary.
The final step to simplify the FAFSA is to pass additional
legislation that will reduce the 108 questions on the FAFSA to a total
of between 18 and 30 questions and make Pell grants predictable so
students can know how much grant aid they will receive to attend
college.
I and Senators Murray, Scott, Jones, Burr, and Coons worked together
to reach this result and I am glad the Senate passed it today so it can
be sent to the House and signed into law by the President before the
end of the year.
Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, Florida is the Nation's greatest
melting pot, with people from all over the Nation choosing to make
Florida their permanent home. Our State has the best colleges and
universities in the Nation, including many Historically Black Colleges
and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions. As Governor of
Florida, I made historic investments in higher education and fought to
keep higher education affordable so more students can get a great
education in Florida.
As Senator, I will continue to fight to make sure every child has
access to a quality education at a price they can afford. Our
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving
Institutions are critical to the success of our State and the future of
our children, and I will always work to support their mission.
The best way to support our colleges and universities is to make sure
our economy is thriving so we have the resources we need to invest in
education. That means we have to be careful about how we are spending
taxpayer dollars. I have concerns any time the government permanently
funds a program, no matter what that program is. Funding anything
permanently means there is little to no accountability or oversight. We
must be careful to regularly review every government-funded program to
make sure taxpayers are always getting the best return on their
investment.
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