Kline suggests Pell Grant cuts to super committee

Posted at 12:05 PM on October 14, 2011 by Brett Neely (9 Comments)
Filed under: U.S. House

WASHINGTON - Today is the deadline for Congressional committees to offer their budget-cutting recommendations to the 'super committee' that was tasked after this summer's debt ceiling standoff with finding $1.2 trillion in savings by Thanksgiving.

As chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Minnesota Rep. John Kline sent a letter to the super committee outlining where he and his fellow Republicans think cuts could be made in the areas of education and labor spending.

The answer: Pell Grants, the federal government grants that help students with college tuition. Kline described the program as, "the foundation of our nation's commitment to assist low-income students in accessing higher education."

"Unfortunately," Kline continued, "legislation passed in recent years, combined with the economic downturn, has put the Pell Grants program on a path to bankruptcy."

While Kline's letter avoided specific recommendations, he endorsed the approach taken by House Republican appropriators in their recently-unveiled Labor, Health and Human Services spending bill.

The House Republicans' recommendations include limiting Pell Grant lifetime eligibility to six years, down from nine, and eliminating eligibility for students who are enrolled less than half time. The appropriations committee estimates the changes would save $3.6 billion just in the next fiscal year, with longer-term savings quickly reaching the tens of billions of dollars.

Comments (9)

This is nothing more than class warfare. Sending and education our greatest resource, our people, should be 1st on the list. Are you saying that the wealthiest should not pay their way and that the ones that have no resources at all for college, should be cut off from this opportunity?

How do you think the wealthy got to be wealthy? Through the resources (our people) have provided for them....

This is an amazing request -- and when will people see that this is class warfare?

Posted by Cynthia Haugejorde | October 14, 2011 12:57 PM

Where is the Democratic response to Kline's vicious attack on the ability of the sons and daughters of the 99%ers to get an education?

MPR won't report on that because it would upset its corporate donors, so MPR serves as a willing shill to Republican attacks on the middle class. Also, why no mention that Kline and his Republican buddies voted to increase the Defense budget by $46 billion over what the Pentagon asked for? Where's the analysis? You are no better than Fox News.

Posted by John Crampton | October 14, 2011 1:48 PM

Pell grants personally helped me get to where I am today. I wish I lived in this Kline's district.

Posted by uptownZombie | October 14, 2011 1:48 PM

I agree with this being class warfare. I am currently a senior in college and could have never been able to go if it was not for Pell grants.
Why do we allow our government to keep making choices that put the poor poorer and the rich richer?
Something has got to change or this country is going to fall and the rich will just move elsewhere.

Posted by LW | October 14, 2011 2:01 PM

Let's make sure we run the clown Kline out of office in November 2012.

Posted by John Crampton | October 14, 2011 3:02 PM

Let me see if I am understanding these comments correctly. The education sky is falling because of a proposal to limit eligibility to six years and at least half time enrollment. Not enough time to get a degree? Wow!

Posted by Vlad | October 14, 2011 6:33 PM

Pell Grants and other government grant programs may not provide as much as they once did, but they are much more important than simply a line on a budget. They represent the public commitment to higher education--offering opportunities to qualified students who have financial need.

Last week I shared a photo with some friends expressing my frustration with increased college costs and change in our culture that sees college as a private investment, instead of a public good. It became quite popular with my students and others. Interestingly, in an interview with City Pages, I explicitly mentioned how much I benefitted from the Pell program. It, in part, helped me finance the excellent college education that propelled me toward a PhD.

I was really surprised to see this in the news today. Rep. Kline, I think I'm going to send you a copy of that photo.

Shame. Seriously.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/10/hamline_professor_david_davies_we_are_the_99_percent_letter_student_debt.php

Posted by David Davies | October 18, 2011 8:14 AM

The MN State University Student Association is currently collecting signatures for a petition that will be sent to Rep. Kline to show support for the Pell program.

Please show your support for students and Pell by signing our petition.

www.msusa.org/savepell or find us on facebook at www.facebook.com/msusa1967

Posted by Jonathan Bohn | October 18, 2011 8:38 AM

Vlad writes "The education sky is falling because of a proposal to limit eligibility to six years and at least half time enrollment. ?"
Well, yes, this is bad, for the basic reason that "Life happens." Sometimes students need to drop back to less than half-time credits; sometimes it takes them longer than 6 years to graduate. Why should thy be penalized for that? They won't need any more credits to graduate than 4-year graduates, so it wouldn't cost them more in Pell Grant dollars. They would be penalized for taking care of their sick parents, or for getting sick themselves, or for any number of reasons, none of which have anything to do with their intelligence or future ability to contribute to our society.

Posted by Debbers | October 21, 2011 7:41 AM

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