Third Higher Education Extension Act of 2007

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3927) to temporarily extend the programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3927, a bill to extend the Higher Education Act through April 30, 2008. This bill is very straightforward. It simply extends the current programs authorized under the Higher Education Act until April 30, 2008, giving us the time to fully consider and complete the reauthorization.

Mr. Speaker, we are making progress. With bipartisan support and the President's signature, we are making a historic investment in student financial aid in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. We have also laid the groundwork to reauthorize the other core higher education programs, including teacher preparation, developing and strengthening institutions, college readiness and outreach programs, international education programs, graduate education, and many others.

The Higher Education Act was due to be reauthorized during the 108th Congress. It was not completed. The 109th Congress also failed to reauthorize this act. Given the length of time that has elapsed between when the Higher Education Act should have been reauthorized and today, we believed that it was critical that the 110th Congress and the stakeholders in the higher education community take a fresh look at the law and the recommendations to improve it.

We have held a series of congressional hearings covering the core issues of access, affordability, college preparation, teacher preparation, and institutional capacity. We put out a call for recommendations and received over 85 responses from individuals and organizations from across the Nation. I am looking forward to working with all my colleagues to produce a strong reauthorization that will earn broad support.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank Congressman McKeon, the ranking member of the full committee. I would like to thank Congressman Ric Keller, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness. Also, I wish to thank Chairman George Miller for working together with all of us to expedite this extension. I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation, H.R. 3927.

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

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague Ric Keller pointed out, the last reauthorization took place back in 1998. If we are able to get it done this year, it will have been almost 10 since that reauthorization. For me, having served 11 years in Congress, I have had quite a learning curve. I have learned the importance by listening to presidents and chancellors of many of the institutions of higher learning and realize the importance of us getting this job done this session.

Mr. Speaker, it is extremely important because we are trying to raise the number of students who will be college ready. We must have programs that are going to fill the need that we have in our country for teachers, for scientists, for mathematicians, for all of the different fields that are necessary for our country to enjoy its prosperity.

I am working hard with my colleague Ric Keller so that the Higher Education Act is completed on a timely basis, and one that is going to serve us for the next 6 years.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time and would like to ask the gentleman from Florida if he has some other speakers.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3927, a measure to extend programs under the Higher Education Act, which are set to expire at the end of this month, for an additional 6 months. This is a clean extension. This will simply change the date required to reauthorize this law from October 31, 2007, until April 30, 2008. I thank my committee colleagues, Chairman Miller, Chairman Hinojosa, and Ranking Member McKeon, for their work on this bill, as well as their consistent efforts on behalf of our Nation's college students and their families.

Mr. Speaker, while I support the extension of the Higher Education Act, I also believe that we need to get on with it at this point and reauthorize this important law. The last time this law was authorized was when President Bill Clinton was in office back in 1998, and it expired in 2004.

We need to work in a bipartisan way to finally reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Republicans on the House Education Committee recently took a positive step in this direction by introducing H.R. 3746, The College Access and Opportunity Act of 2007. This bill is an updated version of H.R. 609, the Higher Education reauthorization bill that passed the House last Congress but was not taken up by the Senate. H.R. 3746 would strengthen the Pell Grant program by providing for year- round Pell Grants, and it would address college affordability by providing transparency in college costs, among other things.

I hope that we will move forward with the Higher Education Act reauthorization in a bipartisan and thoughtful manner. I look forward to working with Ranking Member McKeon and Chairmen Miller and Hinojosa and all of my colleagues on the Education and Labor Committee in completing our work in the coming months. In the meantime, however, I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting this extension.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers and I am prepared to close at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3927. We believe that a college education opportunity is the passport out of poverty for so many worthy young people. I urge my colleagues to support this extension and then later to work together in a bipartisan manner to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

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