Political Quotes

“I thank the chairwoman for her hard work on this bill. A year ago I spoke on the House floor urging this committee to introduce legislation repealing the program integrity regulations. Today I speak in support of H.R. 2117, which repeals two of these regulations. While we must ensure that our small number of schools who have acted in bad faith are dealt with accordingly, the credit-hour and State licensing regulations are an overreaction with vast unintended consequences. First, these regulations will significantly alter the Federal role in the accrediting and licensing of institutions of higher education. Second, they will also drastically limit student access to educational programs and negatively impact all schools. Let me give you an example of a school located in the Midwest in my district--Ohio Christian University--as an example of a school that will be adversely affected by these regulations. OCU is located in Pickaway County, which is a typical county in southeastern Ohio and mirrors that of many across the Midwest. It is struggling with this difficult economy. It has lost over 2,500 jobs, and only 11 percent of the residents in this county have a bachelor's degree. In contrast, Ohio Christian University has created 150 jobs in just 5 years while graduating thousands of students since its founding in 1948. In addition to offering traditional undergraduate degrees, OCU offers an online degree program.…”