Student Fairness Act

Mr. President, today I introduce the Great Ape Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2005. Over the past decade I have sponsored legislation to establish and reauthorize programs designated for the conservation of several multinational species including African elephants, Asian elephants, rhinoceros and tigers, and marine turtles.

Throughout my years in Congress, endangered species conservation has been among my highest priorities, but the recent birth of my first grandson lends new strength to my commitment to preserve the natural world for future generations.

The great apes--chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans, and gibbons--constitute a group of 14 primate species that share a high percentage of genetic characteristics with human beings. Among them, certain species have demonstrated the ability to learn human behaviors. Left unharmed, they may live for 30 to 50 years and form complex social relationships. As Dr. Jane Goodall said in a BBC News article in 2002, ``All [great ape species] have minds that can solve simple problems and all have feelings. So it's a moral responsibility to save them from extinction.''

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that fewer than 100,000 Western lowland gorillas currently remain worldwide. Only 30,000 orangutans remain in Southeast Asia. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whereas more than one million chimpanzees populated the dense forests of Africa in 1960, fewer than 200,000 survive in the wild today.

In regions of Western and Central Africa and Southeast Asia, where populations of these captivating creatures still remain, the continued existence of great ape species will depend upon finding solutions to various complicated threats including habitat destruction, disease, and poaching.

One problem of elevated concern for scientists is the alarming number of new outbreaks of the ebola virus in Africa. As we have become increasingly aware of the substantial risk to human life that ebola and similar viruses pose

in parts of Central and Western Africa, few understand the serious impact that these diseases have on great ape populations. A study published in the journal Nature in 2003 reports that when an ebola outbreak affects a given area, more than 80 percent of all great apes living in that area will die of the disease.

In August 2004, the International Primatological Society released preliminary evidence that suggests that as many as 20,000 Western lowland gorillas may be at risk as the result of a new outbreak of the ebola virus in the Republic of Congo.

Developing vaccines and techniques to prevent the decimation of great ape populations as a result of ebola will require a coordinated effort among conservationists, wildlife biologists, and those responding to human outbreaks. Supported in part by the Great Ape Conservation Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently convened a meeting of experts to begin the process of developing a research and intervention plan. This meeting typifies this kind of collaborative conservation effort that the Great Ape Conservation program was designed to undertake.

The Great Ape Conservation Fund has also played an invaluable role in protecting habitat. One of the first such projects to receive support from the Fund, the Goualougo Triangle Chimp Project in the Republic of Congo, is a success story that stands out among what can often be disheartening news from the frontlines of chimpanzee conservation.

In 1993, scientists first discovered a small population of chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle that had never been hunted and were therefore not afraid of humans. The presence of such chimps is extraordinary given that their habitat coincides with a region that is rife with logging and bushmeat hunting.

With help from the Great Ape program, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society produced scientific evidence to document 272 individual chimps and acquired rare video footage of their social interactions. As a result of this study, conservationists convinced the government of Congo to protect the Goualougo chimps and their habitat from the eminent threat of logging and hunting and to cede the Goualougo Triangle to a national park.

Over the course of merely 5 years, the Great Ape Conservation Fund has provided financial assistance for 94 research and restoration projects in 22 countries and leveraged millions of dollars in additional matching and in-kind funds.

My legislation reauthorizes the Great Ape Conservation Fund, which receives its annual appropriation through the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, for 5 years and gradually raises the funding authorization from $5 million for each year to $7 million for fiscal year 2008 and $10 million for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. The bill raises the top threshold cap on administrative expenses from $80,000 to $150,000, though I should note that over the past five years, Federal appropriations have yet to bring the cap on administrative expenses to the top threshold amount.

Additional provisions of the bill will expand the variety of conservation projects eligible for assistance to include those that address the root causes of threats to great apes in range states, including the illegal bushmeat trade, diseases, lack of regional or local capacity for conservation and habitat loss due to natural disasters.

The bill also amends an existing requirement in the law that requires that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annually convene a panel of experts. My bill exempts expert panels under this law from the Federal Advisory Committee Act and provide the administrator with greater flexibility to determine when it is appropriate to convene an expert panel.

I remain hopeful that despite the overwhelming challenges that jeopardize the continued survival of great apes, we can do our part to sustain efforts to halt their unnecessary extinction.

Federal assistance for the conservation of rare, threatened and endangered international species through the use of species conservation funds has received bipartisan support from Congress for nearly 15 years. I ask you to please join me in maintaining this longstanding commitment to wildlife protection.

Mr. President, I ask that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I join with Senator Kennedy and others today in introducing an urgent and critical piece of legislation, the Student Fairness Act.

This bill would provide rebates to the many college students who will be receiving a dramatic reduction in their Federal financial aid come the return of classes this September. Due to an obscure change made in December of 2004 to a complicated and little-known formula used by the Department of Education to determine Pell Grant eligibility and allotment, many students will see a surprising increase in their expected family contribution, EFC, and a decrease in their Pell Grants. We must act now to prevent these decreases in aid from pricing our students out of college, forcing them to postpone their education and put their career goals on hold.

These changes to the tax tables, at the behest of the Administration, have the effect of cutting $300 million from the successful Pell grant program, upon which more than 5 million students nationwide rely. It is projected that, as a result of these cuts, 1.3 million students will see a reduction in their Pell grants and a projected 90,000 more will become ineligible entirely for Pell grant assistance. According to a survey performed by the New York Times, some students could lose up to $6,000 in financial aid and the average family will have to pay an extra $1,700 before clearing the eligibility bar.

Although the situation is imminent, this is not the first time the Senate has acted to block such changes to the Pell Grant award formula. I successfully secured language in the FY04 Onmibus Appropriations bill that blocked the administration from carrying out a similar plan for the 2004-2005 school year. The same provision, however, was dropped during the conference deliberations of the FY05 Omnibus Appropriations bill. In response, I, along with 31 of my Senate colleagues, introduced S. 187, the Ensuring College Access for All Americans Act, which would have prevented the new calculations from reducing Pell Grants for the 2005-2006 academic year. Alas, the Senate has not acted with enough haste, and by now many financial aid departments have already determined their student aid packages based on the new figures. Students are beginning to realize the harsh reality of rising college tuitions matched by a government unwilling to support its own future leaders. Our only remaining option is to provide these students with these rebates so that they will not lose their financial aid for the coming school year.

This bill calls on the Secretary of Education to calculate the increase in a student's expected family contribution due to the tax table modifications and then provides each such student with a rebate equal to that increase. The legislation would hold harmless any student whose expected family contribution decreased or stayed the same as a result of the changes. Furthermore, the rebate would be treated in the same manner as other financial assistance for tax purposes and would not affect future Pell Grant eligibility.

In addition, our bill has recently received the endorsement of the Campaign for America's Future, an organization that has been a great advocate for students and has been actively collecting stories from American students about the incredible impact of financial aid on their lives.

I thank the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators for their help in crafting this bill and their support in helping students receive the financial aid they deserve.

I urge my colleagues to pass the Student Fairness Act immediately to prevent any student from putting off college because their financial aid has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I join with Senator Kennedy and others today in introducing an urgent and critical piece of legislation, the Student Fairness Act.

This bill would provide rebates to the many college students who will be receiving a dramatic reduction in their Federal financial aid come the return of classes this September. Due to an obscure change made in December of 2004 to a complicated and little-known formula used by the Department of Education to determine Pell Grant eligibility and allotment, many students will see a surprising increase in their expected family contribution, EFC, and a decrease in their Pell Grants. We must act now to prevent these decreases in aid from pricing our students out of college, forcing them to postpone their education and put their career goals on hold.

These changes to the tax tables, at the behest of the Administration, have the effect of cutting $300 million from the successful Pell grant program, upon which more than 5 million students nationwide rely. It is projected that, as a result of these cuts, 1.3 million students will see a reduction in their Pell grants and a projected 90,000 more will become ineligible entirely for Pell grant assistance. According to a survey performed by the New York Times, some students could lose up to $6,000 in financial aid and the average family will have to pay an extra $1,700 before clearing the eligibility bar.

Although the situation is imminent, this is not the first time the Senate has acted to block such changes to the Pell Grant award formula. I successfully secured language in the FY04 Onmibus Appropriations bill that blocked the administration from carrying out a similar plan for the 2004-2005 school year. The same provision, however, was dropped during the conference deliberations of the FY05 Omnibus Appropriations bill. In response, I, along with 31 of my Senate colleagues, introduced S. 187, the Ensuring College Access for All Americans Act, which would have prevented the new calculations from reducing Pell Grants for the 2005-2006 academic year. Alas, the Senate has not acted with enough haste, and by now many financial aid departments have already determined their student aid packages based on the new figures. Students are beginning to realize the harsh reality of rising college tuitions matched by a government unwilling to support its own future leaders. Our only remaining option is to provide these students with these rebates so that they will not lose their financial aid for the coming school year.

This bill calls on the Secretary of Education to calculate the increase in a student's expected family contribution due to the tax table modifications and then provides each such student with a rebate equal to that increase. The legislation would hold harmless any student whose expected family contribution decreased or stayed the same as a result of the changes. Furthermore, the rebate would be treated in the same manner as other financial assistance for tax purposes and would not affect future Pell Grant eligibility.

In addition, our bill has recently received the endorsement of the Campaign for America's Future, an organization that has been a great advocate for students and has been actively collecting stories from American students about the incredible impact of financial aid on their lives.

I thank the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators for their help in crafting this bill and their support in helping students receive the financial aid they deserve.

I urge my colleagues to pass the Student Fairness Act immediately to prevent any student from putting off college because their financial aid has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today I join Senators Corzine, Clinton, and Reed to introduce legislation to ease the harsh effects of the implementation of changes in the State and local tax tables on college students receiving need-based financial aid.

When a decision is made by any administration that affects what families pay for college, it is important for Congress to understand the factors that led to the decision and the impact of the decision on the Nation's families.

In light of the slumping economy, State budget crises, and rising college costs, the Department's proposed changes come at a very difficult time for students and their families. Raising the cost of tuition by a few hundred dollars may force a student to leave school, and it is our responsibility to ensure that these changes are being made for sound reasons.

The Department is authorized to make annual revisions in the State and local tax tables, but for years the lag in the data has made administrations reconsider making changes. We need to look for better ways to make sure that the data reflect the taxes that are currently being paid by families before we adjust the tables.

I urge the Department of Education to work with Congress to decide if these data are indeed the best information that we have. We can use the opportunity of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this year to find a data source that provides timely, accurate information. Until we have done so, I urge my colleagues to support the Kennedy- Corzine bill, so that thousands of students who are harmed by these changes can retain their grants of aid and continue their college education.

Mr. President, today I join Senators Corzine, Clinton, and Reed to introduce legislation to ease the harsh effects of the implementation of changes in the State and local tax tables on college students receiving need-based financial aid.

When a decision is made by any administration that affects what families pay for college, it is important for Congress to understand the factors that led to the decision and the impact of the decision on the Nation's families.

In light of the slumping economy, State budget crises, and rising college costs, the Department's proposed changes come at a very difficult time for students and their families. Raising the cost of tuition by a few hundred dollars may force a student to leave school, and it is our responsibility to ensure that these changes are being made for sound reasons.

The Department is authorized to make annual revisions in the State and local tax tables, but for years the lag in the data has made administrations reconsider making changes. We need to look for better ways to make sure that the data reflect the taxes that are currently being paid by families before we adjust the tables.

I urge the Department of Education to work with Congress to decide if these data are indeed the best information that we have. We can use the opportunity of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this year to find a data source that provides timely, accurate information. Until we have done so, I urge my colleagues to support the Kennedy- Corzine bill, so that thousands of students who are harmed by these changes can retain their grants of aid and continue their college education.