Truman Scholarship Fund Modernization Act

Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise in support of H.R. 6206, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The Harry S. Truman Memorial Scholarship Fund provides an essential service to students in our country. By awarding graduate students scholarships in the fields of public service, they not only help to make higher education more affordable, but encourage students to give back to their country with service. The fund was founded nearly 30 years ago, and continues to serve as a living memorial to President Truman and his service to this country.

The scholarship foundation awards approximately 75 scholarships each year to students pursuing careers in public service. After leaving graduate school, students must serve at least 3 years in public service employment, including teaching, government service, or public interest organizations. In 2004, the foundation awarded 77 scholarships to students from 67 universities and colleges. Additionally, 52 percent of the scholars were women, and 32 percent were of African, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American heritage.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, college affordability is a serious concern for students and families in this country. Tuition at 4-year public colleges has increased by 35 percent in the last 5 years, higher than at any other 5-year period in the last 30 years.

Additionally, recent estimates show that the debt burden from paying for college has priced students out of public service careers. These estimates show that 23 percent of 4-year college students graduate with too much debt to manageably repay with a starting teacher's salary.

Meanwhile, public investment in higher education is waning and we are expecting students to bear more of the burden of paying for college. Students are now taking out more loans than grants to finance college. This is especially true for graduate students; only 28 percent of graduate school financing is grant aid.

Scholarship funds such as the Truman Memorial fund help to limit the reliance on loans and the growing debt burden of students. Since its inception in 1977, the Truman Memorial fund has given scholarships to 2,480 students of public service from States and schools across the Nation.

Some notable graduates include Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, David Atkins, vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center, and Margot Rogers, senior executive with the Gates Foundation working on elementary and secondary education issues.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation will help the Truman Foundation continue to serve students and our country by allowing them additional financial flexibility and autonomy, which will allow the foundation to continue to award substantial scholarships to students and will continue the living memory of President Truman.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6206) to revise the calculation of interest on investments of the Harry S. Truman Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 6206.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 6206, a bill to revise the calculation of interest on investments in the Harry S. Truman Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The Harry S. Truman Memorial Scholarship Fund was signed into law by President Ford in 1974, created with the purpose of awarding scholarships to college juniors who, and I quote, ``demonstrate outstanding potential for and who plan to pursue a career in public service.''

The foundation provides for at least 53 scholarships, and includes at least one for each State, each year, to deserving young people. The purpose of this measure before us is to align the foundation with other similar scholarship foundations.

Under current law, the Secretary of the Treasury is required to invest the foundation's trust fund solely, and I repeat, solely, in U.S. Treasury securities unless the Secretary explicitly chooses to invest in other obligations. Because of this restrictive policy, the scholarship funds have not been able to keep pace with the rapid increases in college tuition.

Specifically, H.R. 6206, would shift the authority for making the investment decisions in the Par Value Special Treasury Obligations to the foundation's board of trustees. The Par Value Special Treasury Obligations have a slightly higher interest rate than the current yield on the 10-year Treasury note. In addition, these special obligations may be bought and sold without penalty, a feature that would provide the foundation with much needed flexibility in its investments.

Both the James Madison Memorial Scholarship Foundation and the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Training and Development currently have this authority already. This measure simply gives the Harry S. Truman Memorial Scholarship Fund, the sole memorial to President Truman, the same authority.

Mr. Speaker, as college tuition continues to skyrocket, we must continue every opportunity to create scholarships that have the tools necessary to continue to attract students to serve in the areas of public service. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6206.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Akin).

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6206, the Truman Scholarship Fund Modernization Act. It closes an important loophole in our existing law.

First, I want to thank all of us who helped us get this bill to the floor today: Chairman McKeon and the Education and the Workforce Committee, Representatives Boehner and Blunt, and all of their staffs.

This bill would simply allow the board of trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, instead of the Secretary of the Treasury, to choose the type of interest that would be received as a yield on the bonds issued by the Truman fund.

Other established and highly accreditable programs have already had this minor change in their discretion; for example, the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation and the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Training and Development.

This foundation, the Harry S. Truman Foundation, is a living memorial to our 33rd President. And it has also become an emblematic program of promoting young people to encourage them to be educated for citizenship and political responsibility and to assume the mantle of leadership in our political process.

Every year hundreds of college juniors compete for what amounts to approximately 80 awards. The rigorous selection process requires the candidates have a strong record of public service as well as a policy proposal that addresses a particular issue facing society. These individuals are among our Nation's best and brightest, and many of them have gone on to provide real leadership within our government and within our institutions.

I am a strong supporter of this program, a program that assists in education as a lifelong learning process.

Scholars who participate in this program are invited to participate in a number of programs, including the Truman Scholar Leadership Week, The Summer Institute, The Truman Fellows Program, and the Public Service Law Conference.

This program has been an extraordinary success, and this bill provides it

greater flexibility in generating the one source of revenue it has. We think that this program is very important. We think that this change is essential. We think that this is an important commitment for this Congress to make to cultivate the leadership of the future in public service.

I salute the gentleman for leading this effort to pass this bill on the floor. I am privileged to have introduced it with the idea that this one small change can do a great deal to promote greater leadership not only in this institution but throughout our political process and throughout our governmental and nongovernmental institutions.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am one of the two Congressmen who serves on the board of this Truman Scholarship fund. As has been explained here today, it is a very good use of money to help students obtain these different scholarships, to prepare them for work in public service.

The problem is that the principal cannot be invested in a very flexible kind of way. That is why this is a modernization act, to allow us to use those funds. I think it is completely noncontroversial. I serve with a Member of the other party on that board. Everybody, as far as I know, is in agreement that this modernization needs to take place. It is going to result in more money for scholarships, and people will be better prepared for public service. It seems like everybody wins, and so I am a strong supporter. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6206.