Roundup: Week of November 12 – November 16

House Education Committee Unanimously Passes Bill to Reauthorize the Higher Education Act

The House Education Committee unanimously approved legislation on Thursday that would reauthorize the Higher Education Act for five years. The College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137) would impose new restrictions on the relationships between student loan providers and colleges, increase transparency in the private student loan market, simplify the process of applying for financial aid, keep textbook costs down, increase aid for veterans and military families, and tackle rising tuition costs. The legislation would also significantly weaken a provision in the law that protects students from unscrupulous for-profit trade schools.

The committee also adopted neary two dozen amendments before passing the bill. Among the most noteworthy was one offered by Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI) that would require the Department of Justice to review settlements made by the Education Secretary involving more than $1 million. This provision is especially important given the Education Secretarys decision in January to allow the loan company Nelnet to keep $278 million in subsidy payments that it had illegally billed the agency.

Bush Vetoes Labor-HHS-Ed Bill

President Bush held true to his word this week, vetoing a 2008 appropriations bill that finances the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor, that he said was too expensive. All told, the bill called for $152 billion in discretionary spending, almost $11 billon more than the President had requested. Though the bill passed with a veto-proof margin in the Senate, it fell two votes shy in the House. In his veto message, Bush said the spending bill, which would increase the maximum Pell Grant to $4,925, “exceeds the reasonable and responsible levels for discretionary spending that I proposed to balance the budget by 2012.” He also criticized it for containing too many earmarks. Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, noted the bill had widespread Republican support and criticized Bushs action, calling the veto “pure politics.”