December 21, 2005

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 this morning passed the Senate by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President Cheney providing the 51st vote for passage. All Democrats and five Republicans voted no. However, because several relatively small changes were made to the bill because of Senate procedural rule, the bill must now go back to the House for another vote before it can be sent to the President. The House could approve the bill tomorrow, but that is considered highly unlikely. That means the bill will be taken up in February when the House returns for the second session of the 109th Congress. If the House passes the bill unchanged it would go to the President then. The changes made by the Senate do not affect education.

The bill contains a number of changes to the FFEL and Direct Loan programs as well as changes that affect expected family contributions and the creation of a new grant program that is meant to encourage students from low-income families to study science, math, engineering and certain foreign languages. There is little direct change to the Perkins Loan Program. (A detailed summary of the legislation was sent to COHEAO members on Monday after House passage and will be included in this week's Torch.)

The larger Higher Education Act reauthorization bills that include reauthorization of Perkins and the other campus based programs, along with numerous other program changes, remain alive, and will remain alive through next year. It is expected that Congress will go back to work on those early in the year, with passage planned sometime in the spring.

Legislation has passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate today or tomorrow that would extend the Higher Education Act through March 31, 2006.

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