Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconcilliation Act of 2005

DEFICIT REDUCTION OMNIBUS RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2005

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Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise in support of the amendment introduced by Senator Enzi. This amendment is designed to do two things: provide additional savings to postsecondary students by lowering origination fees on student loans and provide immediate relief to K-12 students affected by Hurricane Katrina. The K-12 portion of the amendment is based, in part, on the Hurricane Katrina Elementary and Secondary Education Recovery Act introduced by Senators Enzi, Kennedy, Alexander, and myself just weeks ago. Like the bill, the amendment is designed to provide much needed relief to the children, families and schools devastated and affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Two months ago, hundreds of thousands of children were displaced by Katrina. Schools in the Gulf States were damaged and in many cases, destroyed. But schools in the Gulf States were not the only ones affected.

In response to this unprecedented crisis, schools across the country took Gulf State students in, offering them a safe haven, a place to learn and some sense of normalcy and routine. The willingness of these schools to take students in without hesitation point to the education system as an integral part of our communities. The amendment before us assists these schools and the schools directly impacted in a number of ways.

First, it provides immediate aid to restart school operations in the districts devastated by Katrina. In the wake of the hurricane, the HELP Committee held a hearing on the devastating affects of the storm. At this hearing, the superintendent of Jefferson Parish Schools in Louisiana said that if ``you rebuild the schools, they will come.'' Through these comments, she helped us understand that rebuilding schools will have a major impact on the economic viability of the communities directly impacted by the storm. She reminded us of something that we already knew, that schools are the heart and soul of communities.

The amendment also provides financial assistance for displaced students wherever they are currently enrolled in school. Through these provisions, public and nonpublic schools will receive assistance for specified purposes as long as materials purchased and services provided are secular and neutral in nature and are not used for religious instruction, indoctrination or worship. This provision recognizes that in taking students in, schools around the country may need a little extra support in getting these students the services that they need and the education that they deserve.

Additionally, the amendment also allows the Secretary of Education to delay for up to 1 year the highly qualified provisions within the No Child Left Behind Act for teachers affected by Katrina. This provision recognizes that like students, teachers and paraprofessionals have been displaced and should not be professionally penalized because of this.

Mr. President, collectively these provisions provide temporary, emergency impact aid for displaced students. It is temporary in that it sunsets at the end of the current school year, emergency in that it is necessary because of the extraordinary circumstances that we have been presented with, and impact aid as it is assistance for those schools that have been impacted as thousands of children and their families have left the devastated areas.

Most importantly, by attaching this legislation to reconciliation we are providing students with assistance now. It has already been 2 months since the hurricane devastated the Gulf region. These children cannot and should not have to wait another day for the assistance that we promised in the wake of the storm 2 months ago.

Today, we are reaching out to all students because it makes sense, because it gets kids back on their feet as quickly as possible. As I have said before, we are not changing the generic laws. The level of assistance we are providing to nonpublic schools is being authorized solely because of the unprecedented nature of the crisis, the massive dislocation of students, and the short duration of the assistance. I cannot underscore this enough--The provisions in this bill are a departure from Federal law but they are a temporary departure in light of extraordinary events.

Next school year, in terms of assistance to nonpublic schools, we will go back to the ways things are. For now, we will get students the assistance they need. They deserve as much.

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