George Miller

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) who has worked very hard on this legislation. Thank you for that.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa), who is the subcommittee Chair of the Higher Education Subcommittee and who has just been so instrumental in the success of this legislation. (Mr. HINOJOSA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I'm under very strict guidelines here from the leadership.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I'm not going to use my time, but I'm under very strict confines here with my leadership. I've asked members of my committee not to speak, so I can't be yielding time when I didn't give it to the members of my committee. I'm sorry. I don't want to be put in that position.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman of our subcommittee, Ruben Hinojosa, and all of the members of the conference committee for their valuable contributions to this legislation. I would also like to thank Chairman Spratt, who spoke earlier, for providing the reconciliation process, and all of the work that their staff did to make sure that we complied with the reconciliation process and we complied with the PAYGO rules so that there would be no new costs to this legislation to provide these benefits to students and to their families. And I want to thank his staff, Tom Kahn and Sarah Abernathy and Lisa Venus. I would also like to thank Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi for their help and their staffs' work with us to have a successful conference and a conference report on this act. And I'd like to thank the Education and Labor Committee staff, Mark Zuckerman, Alex Nock, Stephanie Moore, Denise Forte, Gaby Gomez, Julie Radocchia, Jeff Appel, Rachel Racusen, Lisette Partelow, Lamont Ivey, Sarah Dyson, Ricardo Martinez and Moira Lenehan of Representative Hinojosa's staff. This work could not have happened without the long hours put in by a very diligent, committed legislative counsel, and I want to thank Steve Cope and Molly Lothamer. Given that we must balance our numbers, we appreciate the significance of work provided by the staff at the Congressional Budget Office, including Paul Cullinan, Debb Kalcevic and Justin Humphrey. The Congressional Research Service has been particularly supportive of our efforts, in particular, Adam Stoll, Charmaine Mercer, David Smole, Becky Skinner and Jeff Kuenzi. I want to thank all of these individuals, and certainly I want to thank the students who, for so many years have tried to get the Congress to respond to their needs and to the needs of their families if they have to borrow money to go to school, to go to school and to achieve a higher education, to achieve the education that that provides. I certainly want to thank USPIRG and the United States Student Association and many others who worked so hard over these past years. We remember just a year ago, just a year ago we were here in the reconciliation process when $11.9 billion was taken out of this very same account, but rather than to use it for the benefit of the students, that $11.9 billion went to pay for the tax cuts to the wealthiest people in this country. We took $11.39 billion out of this same account and we gave that to the Pell Grant students, to the most needy students in this country who need it the most. That's the difference that an election makes. That's the difference that a year makes. That's the difference that a lot of hard work by the students across this country and their families have made as they've asked Members of Congress to address this issue. This legislation, just earlier today, passed in the Senate by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 79-12. It has now been stated that the President of the United States supports this legislation and will sign this legislation. I would hope that all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle would understand the importance of this legislation, the value of this legislation to our students and to their families as we know so many of them struggle to put together the means by which they can pay for the college education of the students. One of the very great moments in a parent's life is when a student gets accepted into college, the students announce they want to go to college, and then you immediately start to think about how we are going to pay for this. This legislation will make it a lot easier for a lot of parents and a lot of students who desperately need this help. I ask all of my colleagues to support the conference report and let's join this bipartisan coalition and help America's families and students. I thank everybody for their cooperation.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this rule to make in order the conference report on H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. In this last election, we campaigned very hard on cutting the cost of college for students and making college more affordable for students and their families who are borrowing money to go to school. And it is clear that we intend to do that with the passage of this legislation today. In the first 10 hours as part of our 6 for '06 agenda, we cut the interest rates in half on the subsidized student loans so that those low-income families and middle-income families who are struggling to meet the debt burden of sending their children to school will have some relief in that effort. And over the next 4 years in this conference report, we will cut those interest rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, which is a savings of the average indebted student upon graduation over the life of that loan of some $4,400. Also for the lowest-income students, the students most in need, we are increasing the Pell Grant up to a level over the next 5 years of $5,400. This is in keeping with what the President promised but never did, and this is in keeping with our promise that we would again restore the purchasing value of the Pell Grant. And you can see from this chart, Mr. Speaker, the fact is over the last several years, the Pell Grant has been flat-lined in spite of promises each and every year that it was going to be increased; and this year for the first time Mr. Obey put money in, in the continuing resolution in the appropriations bill, and then this bill will continue to raise the Pell Grant to $5,400. This is the largest increase, certainly, in recent history. It is important that these two populations, middle-income students and families and low-income students and families, have these resources available to them. And the reason it is important is we are now seeing increasing reports now estimated at more than a quarter of a million students who are fully qualified to go to school every year choose not to go to college, to postpone it, or not to go at all because they are worried about whether or not they will be able to manage the debt or afford the cost of college. And it is our job to make sure that no student in America that is fully qualified to go to college is refused the opportunity to do so because of the cost of college. That has been the policy of this country since the GI Bill, and this is the largest investment since the GI Bill 50 years ago. But it was a policy of the Eisenhower administration, of the Kennedy administration, and essentially every administration on a bipartisan basis since then. But we now see college costs far outstripping the ability of families to pay for a college education, therefore requiring them to borrow money. So in this legislation we take $20 billion away from the large lenders and other lenders of college loans, excessive subsidies that were paid for them, excessive subsidies that were identified in the President's legislation, and we recycle those monies to the benefit of the students and to their families, and we do so within pay-as-you-go, that each and every expenditure in this bill is paid for by the recycling of those excessive subsidies that were going to the lending institution. And in that way, we're able to deliver real money to these families in need in the form of a reduction in interest rates, in the form of an increase in the Pell Grants. But we also do that so that those people who want to choose the profession of a policeman, a nurse, a fireman, a teacher, a special educator, a prosecutor, a public defender, that those individuals will be allowed to choose those careers and know that they will not have to make another choice because of the crushing debt of their college education. They, under this legislation, will not be required to pay any more than 15 percent of their income in any given year for these student loans. And what does that mean? That means they can start a career in nursing, in health care, in law enforcement, as a first responder, and they know that if they stay in that field for 10 years, that loan will be forgiven. That is a major advantage to those individuals who are seeking to go into those fields. We also want to keep the promise of earlier actions in this Congress when we passed the COMPETES Act to have highly qualified teachers in math and science go into the classrooms. We're saying to those exemplary performers in college that if you'll go into teaching and you'll go into the most difficult schools, we will give you $4,000 a year up front while you're in school of tuition relief if you will agree to do that; 16,000 real dollars to those people because they're going to go in and teach in the most difficult schools, and the exemplary performers are going to have the skills and the talents to do that if they so choose to do it. This legislation is the foundation of the cornerstone of our agenda on innovation for new discovery of this Nation, the next generation of discovery, of innovation, of economic growth and jobs here in America. This is the most valuable investment we can make. Every economist will tell you that the investment in education yields more back to the government, more back to the public sector, more back to civil society than any other investment we make. And that's what we're doing in this legislation. We promised we would do it. We started out in ``six for '06,'' and today, with this conference report, the House and the Senate is keeping its promise. We've made changes in this legislation that were suggested by Mr. McKeon and by the administration. And I am proud to announce that the President, in spite of his suggested veto messages or his staff- suggested veto messages over the last couple of months, the President has agreed to sign this legislation. I encourage all of my colleagues to join in support of this rule and to support the conference report when it comes before us. I hope that we will have a good bipartisan vote as they're now having in the Senate at this very moment. I thank the gentlewoman for her support in this effort and for yielding the time. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2669) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 601 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2008, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate amendment, and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of proceeding with the conference negotiations on H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. In appointing conferees today, I am proud to say that we will be taking the first step in making college more affordable and accessible for students. Overall, this is an opportunity for the conference to look at both bills, consider concerns and put forth the best possible compromise; and that is our goal. During this process, not only have we looked carefully at what will work for students and families, but we have done our best to listen to and address the concerns brought to our attention. In an attempt at bipartisanship, we have met with the administration, as well as the staff from the other side of the aisle, in such discussions and with the administration, and we believe at the end of the day the conference will include provisions that have broad bipartisan support while maintaining some of our key priorities. These include the following: Significant investment in Pell Grants. We heard the concern voiced on this floor by Members on the other side of the aisle, and we believe it is important to include a significant investment beyond the House bill in this conference. Understanding that increasing Pell Grants is also an issue included in President Bush's budget, we believe this goal can and should be met. Cutting interest rates in half will remain a key priority for helping the middle class as well as ensuring debt relief for students and delivery of such needed financial support for Historical Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic serving institutions and other minority serving institutions. I hope that we can continue the dialogue and work together on final passage in the conference. I am very proud to be here today to offer this motion to officially proceed in the conference with the Senate on legislation that will allow the Congress to do more to help Americans pay for the cost of college than any effort since the GI Bill at no cost to the taxpayers. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 will get us closer to the goal of ensuring access to higher education for all qualified students. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Bishop).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me first speak to the motion to instruct. I have no problems with the motion to instruct. I don't quite know why it is on this bill, but the Senate chose to put this language into the legislation. The motion to instruct would ask the conferees to maintain that language in this legislation so those who are currently at Guantanamo Bay who are among some very dangerous people in the world not be brought to this country in the event that Guantanamo Bay should be closed. As we know, that is a matter of active debate here in the United States and certainly around the world and within the Congress of the United States of exactly how we extricate ourselves from the situation we have at Guantanamo Bay. Early on after 9/11, the use of Guantanamo Bay became a rallying point against the abuse of human rights. Earlier practices there violated the protection of human rights. As the gentleman from Michigan has pointed out, much has changed there, but all is not well there yet, and there have been calls to close that facility. In the event they would be successful, as I understand this language, this would prevent the prisoners from being transferred to facilities in the United States, and I concur in that language. If I might return back to the legislation at hand or the motion at hand, which is to go to conference with the Senate and work out the differences in this legislation, and there are significant differences between the House and the Senate legislation, the staffs of the committee have been meeting on those differences, and we would hope to be able to report back to the House and to the Senate in the near future. It is important that we do that. We stand here at the beginning of yet another school year, another college year, if you will, and we see that families are struggling harder than ever to meet the cost of college. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Bishop) who has been so active in this field pointed out this fact to the House. We must do what we can to address and help families meet this cost. This legislation does it in a number of ways, both by providing increased grants to the lowest income families of students who seek to attend college who are fully qualified to go to college, but too often economic barriers keep them from doing so. This legislation makes a substantial increase in the Pell Grants, some $500 over the coming years in that grant. It was the goal of this President to do that. Previous Congresses never did that, and we do that in this legislation, and that is going to be a great benefit to those students and to their families who are struggling with the cost of college. We also make a reduction in the interest rates. We cut the interest rates in half on money borrowed from the subsidized loan program which includes those very same Pell Grant recipients. I think 25 or 30 percent of them go on to borrow money from this program, and also middle income families who are feeling the financial strain of having one kid or two or three kids in college at the same time. We estimate that the savings over the life of that loan will be above $4,000, almost $4,500 for those individuals. That is a very substantial savings, and it is what we know that the young people calculate what is going to be the cost of college, and that includes the interest rates that they are going to have to pay back. As we know, there is forbearance against the payment of interest rates while the students are in college, but upon graduation, they start paying that money back, and that interest rate is a significant cost for those students. We also try to make sure that those individuals who have chosen to go into public service can understand that there will be some relief for their efforts through a loan forgiveness program for policemen, firemen, teachers, teachers of special ed, prosecutors, public defenders, all of whom enter professions that don't have the highest economic rewards at the outset, but we want them to go into those professions as services to our communities. And we want to make sure that they do so so we can continue to hold civil society together in this country and receive the benefits of their work and they will not be so burdened by the loans that they will choose to go elsewhere and leave society without the use of their talents, as I say, in health care, law enforcement, education, and so many other fields that are important to this. And following on the passage of the COMPETES Act, we provide for highly qualified teachers in every classroom. In the TEACH Act, we recognize the importance of highly skilled math and science teachers, and we identify those people who are performing in an exemplary fashion in college and offer them tuition assistance if they go into teaching math and science and go into those schools in high need. That would provide $4,000 in up-front tuition assistance for those individuals. We also make landmark investments of $500 million in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges, and Alaska/Hawaiian Native colleges. We have a problem of fully qualified minority students going to some of these colleges and really not being able to stay for a host of reasons. We have had discussions with the heads of State college systems and university systems and others about this problem, and the fact of the matter is we have to do more to support those students so they can successfully negotiate the college education that they seek to pursue. So this legislation is comprehensive. It is important. We did it by taking away the excessive subsidies to the student lending agencies, subsidies that were identified as excessive a number of years ago in the President's budget and by the OMB, and we recycled those successive savings to the benefit of the students and their families who once again are going into great financial stress to make sure that their children will have an opportunity at a college education that we recognize is so important in terms of their future ability to fully participate in the American economy, the American society, and to provide for their families. As we pointed out, this legislation is the largest commitment of Federal resources since the GI Bill of 1944. We think it's important. We would hope to have an affirmative vote to go to conference on the motion to instruct, and then we could proceed with the conference in the coming days. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. If the gentleman has no further speakers, Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume. I just want to point out for a number of Members who have asked about what's the relationship of this reconciliation to the loan scandals that the Nation was witness to earlier this year, this legislation does not contain the language of the Sunshine Act that we passed overwhelmingly in May of this year. That will be contained in the Higher Education Act that the House and Senate plan to do soon. It's in the Senate bill, and we have passed the Sunshine Act. As Members will recall, this was legislation that falls on the heels of public reports of colleges and lenders and their relationships between colleges and lenders and special relationships that were developed in some cases for the exchange of gifts, financial favors, holidays, special treatment to people working for the colleges that were steering people to a particular lender for their loans. Whether or not that was in the best interest of the student or not really didn't come into play. These practices have gone on for a considerable period of time. In some cases, they've been brought to the attention of the Department of Education by the Inspector General. They were not properly dealt with, and the Attorney General of the State of New York, Mr. Cuomo, brought them to the Nation's attention with his investigation of some of the large lending institutions and these practices and entered into a number of consent agreements with those individuals. We had hearings on this matter and the failure of oversight by both the Congress and the Department, and we passed the Sunshine Act in reaction to those hearings that we had, again, and was passed on a strong bipartisan vote. We think these two things are connected. The terms are now removing the excessive subsidies that were used in many instances to grease these relationships for the benefit of the lenders and not for the benefit of the students and of their families who are borrowing the money to pay for their college education. So I just wanted to bring the Members up to snuff on that matter. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the Chair. At this time, I yield 1 minute to the Speaker of the House.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes. I want to thank the Speaker for speaking and endorsing and her participation in bringing this legislation together, but specifically, from our committee, the Education and Labor Committee, the matter that is dealing with green jobs. And I want to thank Congresswoman Hilda Solis and Congressman John Tierney for all of the work they did to create green jobs, both in our urban areas and in the rural areas, to build the expertise, to build the capital necessary to meet the demands of this legislation. For too long, we have debated this issue as if it's the environment against economic growth and jobs. This legislation points to the fact, with the great support of labor unions in our country, that this is also about growing jobs here at home with new technologies, new industries, new innovation and new discovery. And I want to mention the support the Laborers International Union, Operating Engineers, the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Boilermakers, the Steelworkers, and others. They participated in this joint effort to develop these green jobs provisions, building on very successful models across this country. Again, I want to pay tribute to Congressman Tierney and Congresswoman Solis for their effort to pull together a coalition of people understanding the dynamics and the economic growth this can mean in both rural America and urban America to build the expertise, to build the talent, to build the job skills to deal with the new technologies that the other committees of jurisdiction are bringing forth. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. parliamentary inquiry

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the chairman. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the conference report. I want to applaud the work of Chairman Gordon, the conferees and the staff for getting us to this historic place in time on behalf of this COMPETES Act, which will make a great difference in America's economy in the future. The issue of competitiveness has been at the top of our agenda since November 2005 when the House Democrats under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi, unveiled the Innovation Agenda. The Innovation Agenda, which was developed in consultation with the business community, is aimed at keeping America competitive in our ever growing global economy. In addition to the work by the Speaker, the Committee on Education and Labor focused the first hearings of this Congress on how to address the challenges posed by the middle class squeeze. Through the Innovation Agenda and through our hearings, a common denominator was the desire by the business community to engage in ways to create a more innovative workforce that is better prepared to enter the growing high tech industry. This conference bill meets this objective through partnerships that will engage the business community with higher education to create programs that will educate and train individuals to meet the industry's needs. Additionally, I am particularly pleased that the conference bill addresses another key goal of the Innovation Agenda, which is to ensure a highly qualified teacher is in every classroom. The new programs in the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education, modeled after the successful UTEACH and CalTEACH programs, will go a long way to better preparing teachers for the classroom. I am also pleased to see a true vision for education in this bill with programs that encourage math education, ensuring access to advanced placement/IB courses, and the creation of P-16 councils which will help states better understand where students start and where they need to go. Again, I applaud the work of the conferees. I look forward to continue working on securing funding for these valuable programs.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Jennifer Collier, my constituent, for her selection and subsequent participation in the House Fellows Program. The program, eligible to high school government teachers, aims to help teachers improve the knowledge and understanding of Congress through a one-week intensive session on the history and practice of the House of Representatives. Ms. Collier, a social studies teacher at Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, was selected through a competitive process in which all public, private and parochial secondary school government instructors in my congressional district were eligible to apply. The Historian's office made the final selection. During the school year following her participation in the House Fellows Program, Ms. Collier will have the responsibility to present her experiences and lesson plans to at least one in-service institute for other teachers of history and government, expanding the reach of the program to those who do not come to DC themselves. I am certain it will be a valuable experience for her and that she will pass on what she learns firsthand about Congress and inspire future students to become informed and active citizens. I congratulate Ms. Collier and all the other teachers selected to participate in the House Fellows Program this year.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, it is with great sadness that I rise today along with my colleagues Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher and Rep. Jerry McNerney to recognize three individuals in our districts who have given real meaning to the term ``hero.'' Deputy Fire Marshall Ron Wiley of Richmond Fire Department, Captain Matt Burton and Fire Engineer Scott Desmond both of Contra Costa Consolidated Fire Department each lost their life in the line of duty this past month. The loss has been enormous for the families they leave behind and for their colleagues who have served our communities alongside them. We ask a tremendous amount from our first responders every single day. They spend their time and talents educating us on how to stay safe and well and then when all the safeguards fail, we ask them to set aside their own safety for us. Ron Wiley, Matt Burton, and Scott Desmond knew well the risks they took but they each also held a deep commitment to service in our communities. It has been said of each of these men that the love of their work as firefighters was second only to their love of family and our thoughts and prayers are with those families now. We in the communities they served so selflessly now stand to support the loved ones they have left behind. Richmond Deputy Fire Marshall Ron Wiley, Contra Costa Consolidated Fire Captain Matt Burton and Contra Costa Consolidated Fire Engineer Scott Desmond were mentors and role models and will be forever missed. Even though we don't often express it, we as a community value our fire fighters highly and are grateful for the service and sacrifice of these brave men.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 579, I call up the bill (H.R. 2831) to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.