Virginia Foxx

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, ``Anti-Semitism on College Campuses: Incident Tracking from 2019 to 2023; 659 total reported anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses since October 7--a 700 percent increase compared to last year.'' This was updated on December 13, 2023. ``Since the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, anti- Semitic incidents against Jewish students on college campuses have reached alarmingly high rates, increasing by 700 percent over the same period last year. ``Hillel International has been working around the clock with our partners to report and address these incidents, and to ensure that all Jewish students feel safe on campus.'' Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this report from Hillel International. Antisemitism on College Campuses: Incident Tracking From 2019-2023 659: Total reported antisemitic incidents on college campuses since October 7--a 700% increase compared to last year Since the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, antisemitic incidents against Jewish students on college campuses have reached alarmingly high rates, increasing by 700% over the same period last year. Hillel International has been working around the clock with our partners to report and address these incidents, and to ensure that all Jewish students feel safe on campus. If you or a student you know experiences an antisemitic incident on campus, report it (anonymously) to receive 24/7 support at ReportCampusHate.org, or contact our free legal helpline, the Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL) for pro bono legal support. In the Month Following the October 7 Attack on Israel, Hillel International Tracked a 700% Increase in Antisemitic Incidents on College Campuses Compared to the Same Period Last Year 306: Total reported incidents of antisemitism from October 7-November 7, 2023 Hillel has never recorded more than 50 total incidents in this same time period since we started tracking in 2019 129: Unique campuses impacted by antisemitic incidents from October 7- November 7, 2023 We have never recorded more than 40 campuses impacted by antisemitism in this same time period

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Williams), a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle think that Republicans need a lecture on free speech or freedom of religion. We do not need such a lecture on that. We understand those concepts. Those are our first freedoms, and we are very keenly aware of those. Mr. Speaker, there are massive problems in postsecondary education in our country, and our committee is doing its best to address some of those problems and to do something about them. What we knew before the hearing, and what we know even more strongly after the hearing that we held last week, is that Jewish students are facing a massive rise in violence on our college and university campuses. According to the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International, 73 percent of Jewish students surveyed said they experienced anti-Semitism on campus this year. That number is up from 32 percent in 2021. Yet, college administrators, like the ones who testified before the committee last week, are not acting to protect students. Now is not the time for campus leaders to sit on their hands. The only way to salvage American academia and restore a safe learning environment for its students is by rooting out anti-Semitism and standing up against hate. I thank God that the Committee on Education and the Workforce is up to the task. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the American healthcare system is a complex, expensive maze fueled by heavyhanded regulation, consolidation, and lack of transparency. Growth in health spending is rising at unsustainable rates, forcing insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs higher and remaining too expensive for working families. The bill before us is a bipartisan solution to help lower costs by pulling the curtain back on healthcare and revealing anticompetitive industry practices that are stifling the free market. Included in this bill is the Hidden Fee Disclosure Act, authored by Representatives Joe Courtney and Erin Houchin, which requires pharmacy benefit managers, PBMs, and third-party administrators to disclose hidden compensation to plan sponsors. The Health DATA Act, authored by Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, is also included in this legislation. It prohibits gag clauses between health plans and third-party entities, which restricts a plan sponsor's access to its own data. Additionally, the bill includes the Transparency in Coverage Act, authored by Representative Bob Good. It builds on the general principles of transparency and accountability enshrined in the No Surprises Act by requiring health plans to disclose their prices publicly. Patients have been left in the dark. Because of opaque rules and industry practices, patients are often left paying higher costs. This is why we are taking action and shining a light on these issues. Increasing transparency has been proven to root out waste successfully and save healthcare dollars. Bottom line, we want to provide workers and their families with more options at lower prices. The Lower Costs, More Transparency Act does just that while also reducing the deficit by $800 million. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support its passage.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the goal of the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act is to allow a wide range of employers, workers, and health plans to benefit from increased transparency of pharmacy benefit managers so they can make more informed, cost-conscious health care decisions. It has come to our attention that the definition of large employer in this bill, as written, may have inadvertently left out certain types of non-employer plans, such as multiemployer, union, governmental, and retiree plans. I rise today to affirm that my colleagues and I never intended for this bill to exclude these plans from leveraging the transparency tools included in this bill. We remain committed to addressing this technical issue as we work with our Senate colleagues to expand transparency in health care following passage of the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act today.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 906, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 88) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to ``Improving Income Driven Repayment for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program'', and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration knows that its so-called SAVE Plan is illegal, yet it has no problem putting its foot on the gas pedal. As my colleague has admitted, this is helping them pay their way through college, which is what we have been saying. This is a radical plan by the Biden administration to pay for college expenses. Let's make one thing perfectly clear: The so-called SAVE Plan is the administration's game of ruling by executive decree and pinning the tab on the taxpayer. The Biden administration is transferring debt from those who willingly took it out to those who didn't have a chance to go to college. This is unfair. America's student loan system is broken, and this reckless, inflationary, and illegal expansion of executive authority will all but ensure it is doomed beyond repair. This plan isn't about helping borrowers, and it sure isn't protecting taxpayers. It is about an upcoming election and an administration dead set on using the executive pen to reshape our country. That is the stone-cold truth of this matter. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.J. Res. 88, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.J. Res. 88, a Congressional Review Act resolution authored by Representative McClain of Michigan, that would bar the Biden administration from spending hundreds of billions of dollars by executive fiat. On June 30 of this year, mere hours after the Supreme Court decapitated the administration's previous student loan scheme, the Department of Education unveiled its so-called Savings on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. Despite its deceptive name, this is without question the most expensive regulation in our Nation's history. Mr. Speaker, how bad will the damage be? The Congressional Budget Office estimates this new IDR program will actually cost over $260 billion over the next 10 years, over $100 billion more than what the Department was telling the American people. But wait. There is more. Outside experts estimate the cost to be as much as $559 billion. Clearly, this is not a repayment plan, and Democrats have not been shy about their intentions for reshaping postsecondary education. Indeed, Democrats couldn't get their socialist free college fantasy through Congress, so they are attempting to shove it down the throats of Americans through the loan program by executive fiat. Mr. Speaker, millions of Americans are grasping their wallets at this news--and rightfully so. They have already been pummeled by inflation for months on end, and now they are staring down an avalanche of debt this country cannot afford that will surely bury them if Congress doesn't put an end to this madness. H.J. Res. 88 offers us the opportunity to send a clear signal to this administration that we will no longer tolerate a dictator in chief. Here is the simple truth: Money cannot be printed out of thin air without consequences. We should pass H.J. Res. 88 and put an end to this reckless use of taxpayer dollars. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. I think Mrs. McBath just made my argument for me. She said the American people are tired of being asked to give more, more, more. Well, in her district, she has almost 300,000 people without a bachelor's degree, and the cost per person for what the Biden administration is doing is $3,768. In Representative Scott's district, 355,000 have no bachelor's degree. They are being forced to cough up $3,768 for people who don't want to pay their bills. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding and supporting this very technical amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the DETERRENT Act, H.R. 5933. The Republican transparency and accountability agenda is on the march, and the Committee on Education and the Workforce has set its sights on postsecondary education. We delivered the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, a bill to ensure Title IX funding doesn't go to athletic programs which disadvantage young women. Just yesterday, we conducted oversight of anti-Semitism on campus during a contentious hearing with Ivy League presidents. Now, we are considering the DETERRENT Act, a bill that restores transparency and accountability in foreign donations to American universities. The DETERRENT Act strengthens section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which was intended to protect American universities from nefarious foreign donations. Unfortunately, many schools failed to report these foreign gifts and funding, leaving foreign actors with a stranglehold on U.S. academic institutions. A 2019 Senate report found that up to 70 percent of universities fail to comply with the law, and outside experts uncovered nearly $13 billion in previously undisclosed foreign funds. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Without transparency, we have no idea the true amount of foreign funds at our universities. This legislation safeguards our national security in five key ways. First, this bill lowers the minimum foreign gift reporting threshold to $50,000 from its current $250,000. For countries of concern, every penny must be reported. Second, the bill closes loopholes that allow foreign entities to hide the true origin or purpose of their gifts. Every disclosure must include the intended purposes, dates, and person at the institution responsible for accepting the gift. Third, the DETERRENT Act requires that research faculty at our largest research universities disclose foreign gifts and contracts publicly so the American people can see if academic work is compromised. Fourth, it reveals foreign investments by the endowments of our largest private universities. Finally, it sets real, meaningful penalties for universities that fail to comply. Foreign influence is not something our schools should take lightly. I am proud of my Republican colleague, Representative Michelle Steel, for introducing this fantastic piece of legislation, and the Committee on Education and the Workforce is proud to deliver yet another win for transparency, for accountability, and for the American people. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 6 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Steel).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Utah.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time. As we all know, public confidence in American universities is in a free fall. According to Gallup, it has dropped almost 3 percentage points a year, on average, over the last 8 years. The crisis of confidence is multifaceted: part tuition cost, sinking return on investment, and soaring debt. To each of the issues plaguing modern universities, the answer is restoring the principles of transparency and accountability. Yes, passing this legislation would send a strong message to our foreign adversaries, but more importantly, it will send a strong message to our constituents: We are good stewards of your votes. While I know we cannot restore public trust in the university system overnight, requiring a basic level of transparency in foreign donations and accountability from universities is a great first step. Mr. Chair, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the DETERRENT Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.