The House Education and the Workforce Committee amended and approved the College Cost Reduction Act (CCRA, H.R. 6951) on Jan. 31, with a partisan 22-19 vote. Before the markup, the AAMC joined two group letters acknowledging some favorable provisions in the bill, but urging the House Education and the Workforce Committee to retain vital financial aid programs, including the Grad PLUS program [refer to Washington Highlights, Jan. 26]. One letter is led by the American Council on Education and the other letter is in coalition with member organizations of the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions.
House Democrats offered several amendments at the markup, but all failed on party lines. The majority of proposed amendments are part of the Roadmap to College Student Success, which is the committee Democrats’ response to the CCRA, announced ahead of the markup. Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) introduced the only amendment that was passed (22-19), which was an amendment in nature of a substitute removing the creation of the Pell Plus program from the original bill and reinstating the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, which the bill as introduced would have eliminated.
Though committee Democrats opposed the bill overall, members expressed bipartisan support for some aspects such as standardizing financial aid offer forms and data collection, removing loan organization fees and interest capitalization, and maintaining Post Secondary Student Success Grants.
- Washington Highlights