TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2015--Continued

Floor Speech

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Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I rise today and join my colleagues, and I wish to thank Senator Baldwin from Wisconsin for the speech that she gave and for her leadership--as well as yours, Mr. President--on the resolution to extend the Federal Perkins Loan Program. This is something we should take up and pass right now. There is strong bipartisan support to do so.

Yesterday the House of Representatives passed the Higher Education Extension Act of 2015, which would extend this important program for an additional year. But if the Senate does not act by tomorrow, this program, which helps the most financially needy students receive a college education, will expire. We can't let that happen.

I have heard from students, colleges in my State, universities, and financial aid administrators who have urged us to act and to make sure we continue this program, which allows students with exceptional financial needs to have access to low-interest loans they need so they can get higher education, live the American dream, and contribute to our society. Making sure they have that access is critical.

In New Hampshire, approximately 5,000 students received a Perkins loan during the last academic year. Across the country, as Senator Baldwin mentioned, over one-half million students received a Perkins loan during the 2013-2014 academic year. That is one-half million students across this country that will be impacted--their access to higher education negatively impacted--if we do not take up the House-passed bill and immediately pass it in this body.

The cost of higher education in the United States continues to skyrocket. My home State of New Hampshire has the highest average student-loan debt in the country--either putting college out of reach for too many or requiring students to take on substantial amounts of debt in order to get a college education that is often hard to repay, especially with the first job they receive right out of college.

There are several things we must do to address the issue of rising college costs, including, in my view, requiring schools to have more skin in the game and providing more transparency for students and for parents. But as we stand here today, there is one thing right now we can do to help make college just a little bit more affordable, especially for low-income students and families,

and that is by taking up and passing the House bill to extend the Federal Perkins Loan Program for 1 more year. Allowing Perkins to expire would mean that hundreds of thousands of low-income students across the country could see a decrease of about $2,000 on average in their student aid packages. For many, that could put college out of reach because they are counting on it. If we don't take this up now, we will be in a position of really leaving those students hanging, and we should not do that. We should not allow that to happen.

I again thank my colleague from Wisconsin and the Presiding Officer, who is from Ohio, for his leadership.

Again, this has such strong bipartisan support. I hope we get it done today. Let's do it now. Let's make sure we extend the Perkins Loan Program for another year, just as the House did, and ensure we can work together to make college more affordable for everyone so that everyone has the opportunity to live and achieve the American dream.

I thank the Presiding Officer.

With that, I yield the floor.

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