Tom Harkin: “over the past 6 months, I have come to the floor several times to discuss the findings of an ongoing investigation by…”

“over the past 6 months, I have come to the floor several times to discuss the findings of an ongoing investigation by the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee into the for- profit education sector, and the growing role they play in higher education. This investigation has been now ongoing for over a year. Today, I want to focus my remarks on our men and women in uniform and how the for-profit schools are focusing on recruiting them to their schools, and what this means for the taxpayers of America. The first GI bill made it possible for many of the servicemembers returning from World War II to go to college and get ahead in life. In the process, that ushered in a new era of American prosperity. That GI bill continued, of course, with Korea, through the Cold War, and through Vietnam. I myself used the GI bill after my service time so I could go to law school. Over the decades, we have built on that success by extending Federal financial aid to active-duty members of our Armed Forces, and indeed to all Americans who seek to build a better life through higher education. On the whole, this has proved to be one of the Federal Government's smartest investments--an investment in human capital that has produced huge dividends for our Nation.…”