Ted Kennedy

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Senator Enzi and I have 7\1/2\ minutes?

Mr. KENNEDY. I yield myself 5 minutes. First, I thank our friends, Senators Burr and Nelson, for their interest in this issue. Senator Burr is a strong member of our committee and much involved in educational issues. We always profit from his suggestions and ideas, as well as Senator Nelson. As much as we profit generally, there are times when we do not. This happens to be that one time. I have in my hand the pending legislation, which is Kennedy-Enzi, and the Nelson-Burr amendment. All one has to do is look on page 1 of both and they will see what the difference is. On Kennedy-Enzi, paragraph (A) is $2.6 billion; on Nelson-Burr, it is $1.6 billion. Paragraph (B) is $3 billion on Kennedy-Enzi; $2 billion on Nelson-Burr. Paragraph (C) is $3 billion according to Kennedy-Enzi; $2 billion on Nelson-Burr. Paragraph (D) is $3.9 billion; on theirs it is $2.8 billion. The point I am making is, it is $4.2 billion less in student aid. That is the basic point. Is there a question about the economic stability of primarily Sallie Mae? This chart may be difficult to see, but if you look at the bottom, right here on the bottom right are Sallie Mae's own projections. All during the 1990s, at the time we made some modifications in giving the students more help, and Sallie Mae had always indicated that they were going to have more and more trouble. If you look at the end here in the blue, this is their projections in terms of their revenues and profits going out to 2006. This is their document, not ours. They are going to be financially secure in terms of the future. The debate really is, do we want to do more for students or more for banks? The final point I will make is, if you look at what the cuts are going to be, this chart represents for every State the effect of the Nelson-Burr amendment in reducing assistance for students. My State is $59 million. The State of the Senator from Rhode Island is some $16 million. But for every State in the country, this chart represents a reduction in student assistance. The economic and financial advisers have indicated that these financial institutions are going to have ample profits. My concern is whether we have done enough in terms of the students, not have we done too little. That is why I believe students will be best served by resisting the Nelson-Burr amendment. They will benefit the most under our proposal. If we are going to say we will leave it up to the appropriators, what are they going to do? They make certain assumptions that the appropriators are going to appropriate more money and, therefore, there really won't be a loss. If the appropriators appropriate more money, it will go to the benefit under our proposal. So Pell grants will go up and students will benefit even further. We provide effectively $800 in terms of Pell grants. They provide $500. I hope this amendment will not be agreed to.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, how much time remains?

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the point raised is, with these kinds of cuts, will it somehow eliminate the competition? CBO said we could actually have a three-quarters of 1 percent cut and there would still be profitability in the system. We didn't take three-quarters of this. We have taken 50 percent of one and 35 percent in the other. We haven't reached the three-quarters. So under the CBO, there is going to be competition. If you take Sallie Mae's own future projections, there is going to be competition. We have included in this legislation something that is enormously important, a trial program to have real competition out there to see who will compete for the lowest possible additional payments and ensure that we are going to get the benefits for the students rather than for the lenders. That would be enormous. That would be real competition. We are not there yet. We have a trial program in this legislation. Even under the administration's own figures, we haven't really threatened any of the potential lenders. As the chart just showed, Sally Mae, the principal figure in this, is going to have ample profit over future years. I hope every Member takes a look at the charts and recognizes what is going to happen in terms of students in their particular States because under their program, there will be important reductions in terms of that assistance, particularly in the Pell Grant Program. Do I have any further time?

Mr. KENNEDY. As I understand now we are going to have three votes. The last vote will be on the Nelson-Burr amendment. I believe I am correct. The effect of that will be a reduction of some $4 billion that is provided in student aid. I hope that amendment will not be successful, and we will stay with the bipartisan recommendation that came out of our committee with an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority. I yield back any remaining time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I thank the good Senator from Alaska for her efforts for not only the State of Alaska but for all our States and for the initiation she has provided for this amendment. As she has quite correctly stated, one of the great challenges is that we have many qualified students, but they do not have the knowledge or support to be able to find the educational opportunities that are out there. There are nonprofit agencies in the respective States. This will help the States reach out to various groups and individuals in their State to assist them in finding the path toward education--the provisions that are included in this legislation. This amendment is very much needed, and it will make an important difference. We have more than 400,000 students now who are not in college who are qualified to go. The Senator's amendment is a positive one. I hope we will support it.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, could we have order?

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, as we know, under the budget, we considered the legislation for 5 years, but the results of the recommendations that came out of our committee will carry on into the future. Obviously we will have a reauthorization and the Senate will make whatever judgment, but in the meantime, we are going to make sure that those resources in the future, after the 5 years, are going to go to the benefit of students.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, all you have to do is pick up the Nelson- Burr proposal and the one recommended by the committee and you will see that there is $4 billion in cuts. Those are benefits that are going to go to students. The question is, Are my colleagues going to support the students or are they going to support the banks? That is the issue. That is the question. Every State will see a reduction in the funding for students under this proposal. CBO has indicated, in evaluating our proposal, that the lenders, talking about the industry, are going to have profits--I will include their report--large and small alike. This is a question of whether we are going to support the students who need that help, need that assistance who are the future of our economy and of our national security or whether we are going to support the banks. That is the issue. This is the time. I hope this amendment will be defeated.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I see my friend from Maryland here who wishes to address us, and I hope our Members will pay close attention. We have been making important progress during this last hour or so on some very important amendments, and we are grateful for the interest and the involvement of all our colleagues. We have a number of our colleagues who wish to address the Senate on this education legislation. We will hear from several of them at this time. We are very grateful for all of the support the Senator from Maryland has given, and I yield such time as he might want on the legislation.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, would the Senator be good enough to yield for a question?

Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator from Maryland be good enough to yield for a question?

Mr. KENNEDY. The Senator is familiar with the fact--I am wondering if it is true about the students in Maryland--the average indebtedness of a student now graduating from a 4-year college has gone up significantly from 1993, from $9,200, to 2004, where it is over $19,000. It may vary in different States, but by and large the average is about $19,000. Let's take the starting salaries.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, first, this has nothing to do with our education bill whatsoever. It is completely not germane. Secondly, it says to every American citizen who was not born here in the United States of America, who might have been an American citizen for 30 years or 40 years, you are going to have to go back in your history and demonstrate and show you were authorized to be here for the last 30 or 40 years if you are an American citizen, if you are born outside of this country. What in the world does that have to do with our education system? Absolutely nothing. This amendment would apply to Henry Kissinger, it would apply to Madeleine Albright, it would apply to Mel Martinez. It would apply to all American citizens who were not born in this country. That is where we are.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that the amendment is not germane pursuant to sections 305(b)(2) and 310(e) of the Congressional Budget Act.

Mr. KENNEDY. I see the Senator from South Carolina on his feet looking for recognition. I hope he will be recognized because I think he has an amendment that we might be able to voice vote.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I urge our Members to support this amendment. Those who are ineligible because of drug usage, for the Pell grants, will be ineligible under our legislation. This clarifies it. We had simplified the application form. The Senator's amendment addresses that simplification, and we will accept that amendment.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I see the Senator from Minnesota is seeking recognition.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, let me ask unanimous consent to proceed for 30 seconds. We have three tax amendments and one voter ID. They are still remaining on the list, so that is what we will try to address next.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I raise a point of order against the amendment pursuant to section 305(b)(2) and 310(e) of the Congressional Budget Act.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, a very basic and fundamental issue. This is a constitutional issue. The taxes that are raised result in a blue slip, which effectively is automatically exercised. The chairman of our Budget Committee, the Senator from North Dakota, understands this and understands it well. It effectively ends the bill. It effectively ends the bill constitutionally. I understand the Senator from Louisiana is going to have an alternative. There are only three tax provisions, but the tax provisions that are offered effectively result in what is a constitutional blue slip. I have not talked about killer amendments or poison pills, I am talking about this constitutionally. I see the Senator from North Dakota, from the Budget Committee, agrees.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I make a point of order that the amendment is not germane, and raise a point of order pursuant to section 305(b)(2) and section 310(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, we are coming to the final amendment. There will be one consent agreement that Senator Enzi and I have, and then final passage. I hope we will give the Senator from Arizona time so we can hear him.

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I join the two leaders in thanking our colleagues and thank them for moving this process forward in naming these conferees on the America COMPETES Act. I wish to underline the excellent work that was done under the bipartisan leadership of Senator Bingaman and Senator Alexander, and the other members of our committee. They have worked long and hard on this legislation. A very distinguished leader in business, Norm Augustine--who has been the head of many of our defense industries and is a real statesman in terms of defense policy--was enormously important in helping guide the bipartisan group, to get recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Science Foundation, and others, to help prepare this legislation, and to make recommendations to the House and the Senate. This is an enormously important effort to ensure that the United States can continue to be competitive in the world economy for years ahead. I think this is a very solid and important bipartisan effort. I join with our two leaders, thanking them for their recommendations in terms of conferees, and join in commending the bipartisan effort that has seen this as continuing progress.