Timothy H. Bishop: “The chairman's mark is $6.9 billion above the fiscal year 2008 enacted level for education and $7.1 billion above the…”

“The chairman's mark is $6.9 billion above the fiscal year 2008 enacted level for education and $7.1 billion above the President's request for education. Mr. Etheridge just talked about the 47 programs that the President's budget cuts but that this budget resolution restores. I want to talk about just three of them. The President's budget resolution or proposal cuts $750 million out of the SEOG program, the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, fully eliminating the program. And it also eliminates the Perkins Loan revolving fund another $750 million. That is $1.5 billion on an annual basis taken out of the student loan delivery system. And that completely undercuts what this Congress, on a bipartisan basis, passed and enacted into law this fall when we passed the College Cost Reduction Act. So the Congress has gone on record as saying that the Federal Government needs to take a larger role in supporting student financial aid programs. And the President is ignoring that and, in fact, pushing us in the opposite direction. We need to push back and continue to fund those programs.”