Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, we just voice-voted an amendment to let
students use summer Pell grants, but the fact is this budget cuts Pell
grants. In Minnesota alone, more than 160,000 students were able to go
to college thanks in part to Pell grants, and the same holds for
millions around the country.

When my wife Franni and I were in college, a full Pell grant paid for
about 80 percent of a public college education. Today it pays for less
than 35 percent. Yet this budget would cut this program and make it
harder for students to pay for college. My colleagues want to cut it
further. We should not be doing that.

That is why I offer this amendment.

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