Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the education provisions in the reconciliation legislation that reforms Federal student loan programs and will help our Nation's neediest students afford college by providing $35.5 billion for the critical Pell grant program. Nearly 700,000 students in California right now receive Pell grants of up to $5,550 out of over 8 million students nationwide. The majority of these students come from families where the average income is less than $40,000. The Pell grant funds in the bill will help prevent cuts to students' grants of up to 60 percent and prevent nearly 600,000 students from losing their grant entirely. It will also help 63,000 more students in California receive a Pell grant so they can afford to go to college during this tough economic time. Specifically, the legislation will allow the current Federal Direct Loan Program, backed by the U.S. Treasury, to be the sole originator of all federal student loans; save $61 billion over 10 years by eliminating the Federal Family Education Loan Program, FFELP, which provides unnecessary subsidies to private lenders and banks for originating student loans.”