Conference Report on H.R. 4137, Higher Education Opportunity Act
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4137, HIGHER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 31, 2008)
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Mr. HINOJOSA. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the conference report for HR 4137, the Higher Education Opportunity Act.
We are near the end of our long journey to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. I would like to personally thank all of the members of the conference committee, especially our leaders, Chairman TED KENNEDY, Chairwoman MIKULSKI, Senator Enzi, Chairman George Miller, Representative BUCK MCKEON, and Representative RIC KELLER, for their commitment to producing a bipartisan, forward-looking bill that will update our existing higher education programs and address emerging needs.
I thank all the committee staff members in both the majority and minority who worked with great commitment to getting the job done. They had a mindset that told me that they didn't know it couldn't be done, ``and that is why we did it.''
In the Higher Education Opportunity Act, we are taking significant steps to improve our student aid delivery system, ensure the integrity of our student loan programs, and provide students and families with the tools that they need to make informed choices about which college to attend and how to finance it. These are complex issues, and on a bipartisan, bicameral basis we have come together to offer some practical solutions. We couldn't have done it if we had not worked together.
I am particularly proud of the provisions that will help our veterans and active duty military have full access to the education benefits that are due to them. The provision to establish veterans' centers and veteran student support teams on college campuses will help our veterans get the full benefit of the GI bill expansion that we just enacted.
Finally, I would like to highlight the great progress we have made in strengthening minority serving institutions. After 10 years of waiting, Hispanic serving institutions will have support for graduate programs leading to masters and doctoral degrees. We are addressing the urgent needs for teachers and college faculty with an emphasis on building the capacity of minority serving institutions to meet this need. We will leverage minority serving institutions to engage more youth in science and technology. The Higher Education Opportunity Act represents real progress for our communities.
In closing, I would like to thank all of my colleagues for helping us reach this point. I hope we can get this legislation, which measures over one foot, with over 1,100 pages, to the President's desk as soon as possible.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the conference report for H.R. 4137, the Higher Education Opportunity Act.
We are near the end of our long journey to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. I would like to personally thank all of the members of the conference committee--especially our leaders Chairman KENNEDY, Chairwoman MIKULSKI, Senator ENZI, Chairman MILLER, Representative MCKEON, and Representative KELLER--for their commitment to producing a bipartisan, forward-looking bill that will update our existing higher education programs and address emerging needs.
This has been an enormous undertaking. The last reauthorization of the Higher Education act took place during my first term in Congress over 10 years ago.
We began this Congress with a series of hearings focused on the steps we needed to take to improve access and affordability in higher education and to position our Nation and our students too at the leading edge of the global economy. We asked the higher education community and all of our members to come forward with new ideas. This bill reflects the creativity and innovation that makes a U.S. college education sought after in all parts of the world.
Last fall, we enacted into law the largest increase in Federal student aid since the GI bill with the College Cost Reduction Act.
In the Higher Education Opportunity Act, we are taking significant steps to improve our student aid delivery system, ensure the integrity of our student loan programs, and provide students and families with the tools that they need to make informed choices about which college to attend and how to finance it. These are complex issues, and on a bipartisan, bicameral basis we have come together to offer some practical solutions.
I am particularly proud of the provisions that will help our veterans and active duty military have full access to the education benefits that are due to them. The provision to establish veterans' centers and veteran student support teams on college campuses will help our veterans get the full benefits of the GI bill expansion that we just enacted.
Finally, I would like to highlight the great progress we have made in strengthening minority-serving institutions. With over 40 percent of our public school children being racial or ethnic minorities and nearly half of all minority students attending minority-serving institutions, we are taking some very important steps in this legislation to build our capacity in this critical area. After 10 years of waiting, Hispanic-Serving Institutions will have support for graduate programs. We built on the foundation that we established in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act for Asian and Pacific Islander-serving institutions, predominantly Black Colleges and Universities, tribally-controlled colleges and universities, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We are addressing the urgent need for teachers and college faculty with an emphasis on building the capacity of minority-serving institutions to meet this need. We will leverage minority-serving institutions to engage more youth in the sciences and technology. The Higher Education Opportunity Act represents real progress for our communities
In closing, I would like to thank all of my colleagues for helping us reach this point. I hope that we can get this legislation to the President's desk as soon as possible.
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