On the recordJuly 23, 2014
Mr. Chairman, this amendment which requires the Secretary of Education to study the advantages and disadvantages of using IRS income data to complete a student's application for Federal aid is an idea that is growing in popularity. Simplifying the Federal student aid application has been proposed by a number of our colleagues. As part of an effort to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, Representatives Larry Bucshon, Mike Kelly, John Tierney, Tim Bishop, Jared Polis, and Ed Royce introduced H.R. 4982, Simplifying the Application For Student Aid Act, which addresses this issue as well. That bipartisan legislation would streamline and improve the student aid application process by allowing students to import into their application IRS income data from 2 years prior to the date of application. The gentleman's amendment today will help inform us how better to simplify this process. I thank him for offering the amendment. I urge my colleagues to support it. I yield back the balance of my time.
