July 14, 2005

On Thursday, July 14 the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness passed H.R. 609, the College Access and Opportunity Act with amendments. The legislation reauthorizes the Perkins Loan Program and increases Perkins Loan limits to $5,500 for undergraduates and $8,000 for graduates. The bill was reported out of committee on a 18-15 party line vote. (The no votes, all by Democrats, had nothing to do with Perkins Loans being reauthorized but were due to dissatisfaction with a variety of other provisions.)

During the mark up, no Representative offered an amendment to eliminate the Perkins Loan Program.

Relating to all campus-based programs, including the Perkins Loan Program, Rep. Tierney (D-MA) offered an amendment to delete from the bill a provision that would phase out over 10 years the “hold harmless” part of the allocation formulas. The amendment failed on a 16-16 vote - needing a majority vote to pass, with all but two Republicans voting no and all Democrats voting yes. However, during debate on the amendment, Subcommittee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) offered to work with Tierney on possible modifications to the way the bill phases out the hold harmless section of the allocation formulas.

The Education and the Workforce Committee is expected to mark up the bill next week. COHEAO will continue to provide updates and events occur.

Andrew Stringer
Legislative Associate
Washington Partners, LLC
(P) 202-289-3903
(F) 202-371-0197
astringer@wpllc.net