Nita Lowey: “I rise today reluctantly in opposition to the 2004 Labor-Health and Human Services bill because I know how much our…”

“I rise today reluctantly in opposition to the 2004 Labor-Health and Human Services bill because I know how much our chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), really cares about these issues and how he is committed to these issues. However, I am really disappointed that this process operated under terms and with restraints for the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Regula) that do not do justice to the millions of Americans whose lives are improved by the programs funded in this bill. For example, one would hope that students attending college could count on greater support from the Federal Government during these hard times, but with this bill they will not be able to. The maximum Pell grant is frozen at 4,050. Not only have House Republicans consistently neglected the Pell grant, but it is important for us all to remember that when the program was started in 1975, Pell grants paid about 84 percent of college costs. It now pays only about 38 percent of college costs.”