Political Quotes

“Madam Chairman, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 2117, the Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act. This legislation will simply wipe out all of the credit-hour and State authorization program integrity rules. These rules are so important and crucial because this is what prevents the widespread rip- off, fraud, and abuse in this industry. H.R. 2117 would repeal the Department of Education's State authorization regulation, which gives States the ability to enforce their right to require that all colleges operating within their jurisdictions be authorized to do so. Without this State authorization rule, States have no way of knowing which colleges operate within their State unless they operate on physical campuses. The State authorization rule simply requires that, as a condition for a receipt of Federal aid, colleges verify that they have authorization from the States in which they operate and are in adherence to their State education laws. This legislation also aims to overturn the rule creating a sweeping Federal definition of credit hour. Currently, there is no common understanding of what colleges mean when they use the word ``credit.'' The most egregious result of this provision's repeal is the abuses of for-profit colleges, like the American Intercontinental University, who has been charged with inflating their credit hours to a point when they offered nine college credits for courses that were only 5 weeks long.…”