Rep. Massa Votes To Pass Student Aid And Fiscal Responsibility Act

Press Release

Today Congressman Eric Massa voted to pass H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. This bill is the single largest investment in aid to help students and families pay for college in history -- and at no cost to taxpayers. This bill will make a $40 billion investment to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship by linking them to the Consumer Price index, investing in college access programs and strengthening the Perkins Loan Program. The bill passed by a final vote of 253 to 171.

"I'm proud to have helped pass this bill designed to help students and families afford the rising cost of college," said Congressman Eric Massa. "Additionally, I'm very pleased that we were able to not just make this bill deficit neutral, but actually save taxpayers $87 billion over the next 10 years. Helping families and students pay for college, reducing the burden on American taxpayers and improving American's access to higher education - this is a great bill and I'm proud to have helped pass it."

Specifically in New York's 29th Congressional District, there will be a significant impact. For example, in the school year of 2008-2009, there were 11,404 Pell Grant applicants with annual awards of just over $30 million. If signed into law, it's projected that by the school year of 2019-2020, there would be 20,126 Pell Grant applicants with annual awards of almost $75 million.

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