Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3136) to establish a demonstration program for competency-based education, and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4984) to amend the loan counseling requirements under Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the two underlying bills, H.R. 3136, the Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act of 2013, and H.R. 4984, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. I do rise in opposition to the rule for reasons that I will go into regarding preventing us from addressing many of the major issues within public education and higher education.

While I am supportive of these two bills, I am disappointed that the House is not embarking on a full reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. We can nip around the edges in certainly a constructive way to reduce costs, as these bills do, to be helpful, but none of them are game-changers or, dare I say, even a substantial part of making college more affordable like we could through the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Since the last reauthorization in 2007, higher education has become more and more expensive. The cost of attending a university per student has risen by almost five times the rate of inflation since 1983. At the very time that an advanced degree is more important than ever for somebody to have a good job in today's increasingly complex global economy, it is getting further and further from the price range and affordability for American middle class families.

While a 4-year university isn't always the best choice, some form of postsecondary education is increasingly important--whether that is community college, whether it is a certification program--to be able to ensure that young people, and people of all ages, have access to a good-paying job in the 21st century workforce. Only by pursuing a full scale reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, soliciting ideas from Democrats and Republicans across the aisle, can we truly be able to help put college more in reach for students. As many of my colleagues from across the aisle say, we need to examine how or if many of the student loan programs only contribute to the increasingly high cost of college education. We need to take ideas from our side of the aisle, including some that I cosponsor regarding reducing textbook costs or looking at new and better ways that we can look at income- based repayment for student loans.

Through a comprehensive reauthorization, we can streamline payments by replacing our complicated student loan system with a simplified income-based program, which is part of a bipartisan bill that I sponsor with Congressman Petri called the ExCEL Act. We could also improve articulation and transfer agreements so that students can move quickly and efficiently towards a credential from less expensive community colleges, if necessary, to colleges that offer 4-year degrees.

Furthermore, Representative Hinojosa's open textbook legislation would help keep costs down so students can concentrate on their studies rather than having to work additional jobs just to be able to afford the textbooks. Finally, we can make sure that we improve accountability for colleges and universities that are not serving students well so that our limited Federal resources are used in a way to provide incentives to States and universities that support public education and they keep public education, higher education, affordable.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to the Higher Education Act, which this Congress does not appear to be moving forward on and this bill does not allow amendments to, our Nation's landmark kindergarten through 12th grade education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, sometimes referred to as No Child Left Behind, is long overdue to be replaced with a new reauthorization.

And this week, I was pleased to hear the President signed another work product of this body, the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, another long overdue, bipartisan bill to improve our workforce development system that many of my colleagues on the Education and Workforce Committee have worked on for many years. That bill started in a partisan way. The first iteration on the House floor received zero Democratic votes. The compromise, however, received the support of every Democrat and nearly every Republican. It passed by a margin of 415-6.

Just a few months ago, we passed bipartisan bills to substantially improve the charter schools program and Federal investment in education research with a strong bipartisan vote. So, Mr. Speaker, this body has shown it can pass bipartisan Education and Workforce bills. These two bills coming before us today are additional examples of that. So why haven't we undertaken the hard work to make a full-fledged bipartisan effort to reauthorize No Child Left Behind?

Like with the Workforce Investment Act, we had a partisan version come to the floor. Not a single Democrat voted for it, just as not a single Democrat voted for the first iteration of the Workforce Investment Act. Anybody can pass partisan legislation that no one else supports, but that is not a constructive step towards lawmaking. Lawmaking entails making the tough decisions, working with the other side to create a work product. Again, with WIA, we had a 415-6 vote. With No Child Left Behind, whether it is that high or not, let's get a majority of Democrats and Republicans working together to reauthorize it. They began that hard work in the Senate Health Committee, where they have a bipartisan education reform bill that they have not brought to the full floor of the Senate, but at least they began that work of working in a bipartisan manner towards replacing No Child Left Behind with a new Federal education law.

This bill which passed the House, the Student Success Act, the Republican-only education bill, was opposed by Democrats for many reasons. First of all, it would have locked in education funding at sequester levels. Secondly, it would have locked many of our critical programs that support STEM, literacy, and the arts, support English language learners, and left students trapped in failing schools with little recourse for action. It was opposed not only by Democrats but also by the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and also every major education organization.

This process was unlike all other previous efforts to reauthorize the ESEA, when under the strong leadership of my colleagues, like now- Speaker Boehner and Ranking Member Miller, Democrats and Republicans came together to strengthen and improve our education system. As Ranking Member Miller enters retirement, with his last year in the House, we need to learn from his success in building consensus and forging compromise, in keeping students across our country first to ensure that we get the most bang for our buck with our limited Federal investment and students and young people receive the skills they need to compete in the 21st century workforce.

I urge my colleagues to recognize that our opportunity to build on the success of No Child Left Behind, which shined a light on the achievement gaps for minority and low-income students, is now, more than ever, critical. But just as it had successes, it also had failures that are recognized across the aisle. The superficial formula for adequate yearly progress is defended by nobody, and yet continues to be the law of the land.

I hope that this body can come together, just as we have for WIA, for charter schools, for ESRA, just as we are doing for the bills we are considering today, to update and improve the ESEA. That is what our students deserve and what we were elected to do. Rather than let these bills we are passing today stand out as an aberration, let us build upon them, let them form momentum for higher ed reauthorization and ESEA reauthorization so we can begin the substantive work that the voters of this country have hired us to do.

Despite the fact that we are not considering a full reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, despite the fact that we are not considering a full reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, I am nevertheless pleased that we are considering H.R. 3136, a bill that I coauthored with Representative Salmon. This bill allows innovative colleges and universities to shorten the time and cost of earning a degree through self-paced programs based on learning rather than seat time. This innovation, called competency-based education, allows students to work at their own pace and earn credit by mastering the knowledge, rather than sitting in a seat and, let's be honest, sometimes not even being awake. This growing trend of innovation around competency-based education is particularly important because it provides a way to increase innovation and reduce the costs of a college degree.

Today's students come to college with different backgrounds and learn at different rates and different times of day. The competency-based education program allows an institution to tailor a program of study to an individual student. By measuring and assessing competencies, or what a student can demonstrate that they know, students are guaranteed to matriculate with the knowledge of the skills they need to master. Businesses will know what to expect upon hiring these students, and students will be incentivized to learn as quickly and as inexpensively as they can.

While the Department of Education currently has some latitude to explore this model through the experimental sites' programs, the current regulations need to be updated and streamlined to better support these innovative programs, which is what this bill does.

I am proud to say that in my district, institutions like Colorado State University's Global Campus are demonstrating that online public universities with competency-based programs can lead the way in attracting, educating, and graduating young learners and adult learners to succeed in the 21st century workforce. But CSU-Global and programs like it currently need to adhere to existing higher education structure, which limits the schedules of students and limits when students can achieve financial aid because traditional higher education is based on the Carnegie unit, or credit hour, rather than what the students learn.

As Congress considers the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, this project, this innovation that this bill will unleash is more crucial than ever. In 1998, Congress recognized the importance of the growing trend towards distance education and the opportunity for students to learn online. Now once again, we have the opportunity to learn from, to study, and to innovate around competency-based education, to learn about the changes that we need to make to maintain quality, to reduce costs, and to increase the number of students that have access to these programs.

That is why I was proud to work with Representative Salmon, Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and Ms. Foxx on this legislation, which would permit institutions to waive certain regulations that stand in the way of them adopting a competency-based model. We will learn a lot. We will learn what works, and we will learn what doesn't work. They are both important as we seek to expand innovation across the higher education sector to reduce costs and increase quality.

This legislation will allow Congress and the general public to learn more about the opportunities that competency-based education offers for students to increase access and opportunity in higher education.

I am also pleased that the House is considering under this rule H.R. 4984, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. Financial counseling is an important method for students to learn about the most effective and least expensive way for them to finance their higher education, both before, during, and after their college experience. Many students simply don't have the knowledge or the resources or the help to make sound decisions in their own interests about their opportunities to finance their postsecondary education.

To the degree that we don't provide a high quality standard of counseling, first-generation students in particular are the students who stand to benefit the most from improving access to higher education and they often lose out. H.R. 4984 makes many improvements to our financial counseling obligations under current law. The bill ensures that all students and parents who participate in the Federal loan program receive proactive counseling each year that is personalized to meet their own financial needs. Students will receive information about the terms and conditions of Pell Grants and various other loan programs. The bipartisan bill also directs the Secretary of Education to create and disseminate online tools to provide annual loan counseling, helping to bring our financial aid counseling system into the 21st century and put useful, relevant information into the hands of students.

One place in particular that financial counseling can play an important role is when determining whether to take out Federal loans or private student loans. Private student loans often have variable interest rates, as high or higher than 14 percent. They are not eligible for the important deferment, income-based repayment, or loan forgiveness options that come with Federal student loans, but half of private student loan borrowers borrowed less than they could have in Federal Stafford loans. So without realizing it in many cases, people are turning to the higher priced, less beneficial private market place when they still have unused capacity on the Federal student loan side. It is clear that there is an information gap and students need information about the terms and conditions of these loans.

That is why I am thrilled that this underlying bill contains an important part of my Know Before You Owe Act, which I first introduced last session and reintroduced this session, along with Representative Bishop and Representative Schwartz, to ensure that financial counseling includes additional disclosures on private education loans, with information about college financing options and warnings about riskier private loans to help students make informed decisions about their choices so that they get the best deal that is available to them under current law.

I am also pleased the underlying bill will improve exit counseling for student loan repayment. Unfortunately, many students default on what could otherwise be manageable levels of debt because they don't understand the payment options.

The ExCEL Act, which I mentioned earlier and introduced with Representative Petri, would make simple income-based repayment the default option, which will reduce paperwork and administrative overhead and prevent this unfortunate occurrence and make payments more affordable for students.

The bill will help students understand that they have many options to pay back their loans and help them make the choice that is best for them.

These bills are a step forward, but affording college education requires a lot more progress than a full step. We need to make enormous progress to reverse the trend of the last few decades that have led to five times the cost of college inflation adjusted since 1983.

I wish I could be here before you to say that these bills will fix that. Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to say that they will help, but they alone will not turn around the alarming trend that is making college harder and harder for middle class families to afford.

So while I support these bills as a step forward, I oppose the rule and call upon this body to allow a full and open debate on the Higher Education Act on ESEA.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 4582, Mr. Tierney's bill, to enable millions of students, graduates, and parents in middle class families to responsibly finance their existing student loans.

To discuss our proposal, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney), the ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa), the ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa), my esteemed colleague and the ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

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

Mr. Speaker, this Congress is best characterized by missing opportunities, whether it is balancing our budget, whether it is immigration reform, or, in the context of education, which is the primary issue I work on here on the committee in this institution, the opportunity to reauthorize and replace No Child Left Behind with a Federal education policy that works for our country and to replace the Higher Education Authorization Act with a bill that makes college more affordable for American families.

Today's considerations, while good bills--and I am particularly honored to have my bill with Mr. Salmon on the floor of the House, and I look forward to managing that and discussing its merits later and encourage a strong bipartisan vote of support--the tragedy is that we are nibbling around the edges and not dealing with the core of the issues that the American people demand that Congress deal with.

When we look at congressional approval ratings of 12 percent, we need go no further in explaining that than the hesitancy of this body to solve or address any of the major issues that I hear from my constituents on a daily basis.

If this Congress were serious, we could put H.R. 15, our bipartisan immigration reform bill, on the floor of this House. I am confident it would pass. If this body were serious, we could put the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, a bipartisan bill, on the floor of this House to prevent companies across our country from firing Americans simply because of whom they date or love in their private lives, and it would pass.

We could begin the not easy work but the worthwhile work of working together, Democrats and Republicans, on reauthorizing ESEA, No Child Left Behind, and replacing our broken Federal education policy with a constructive

approach that works for kids across our country in reauthorizing the Higher Education Act.

What would be those principles behind reauthorizing the ESEA? I think there are a lot of good ideas from both sides of the aisle.

When No Child Left Behind was signed into law by George Bush, it was a step forward for transparency and accountability; but even in the immediate aftermath, it was clear that Congress didn't get everything right. Rather than improving it and adjusting it, it has been frozen like a time capsule from 2001. Secretary Duncan has done what he can with the broad authority of waivers.

I hope that my Republican colleagues agree that vesting any administration--not just this President--with that kind of ability should not be the intent of lawmakers. We should address the flaws in the act.

I think any President, Democrat or Republican, is doing what they can with the law such as it is, but the real answer doesn't lie with an administration. It lies with Congress. It lies in Congress altering and changing the AYP formula.

What does real accountability look like? Growth over time and how much students are learning. What should ESEA contain? It should promote innovation and excellence. It should expand and replicate what works in public education. The most promising thing we have is that we have examples of schools that work with at-risk kids from every demographic that outperform their peers and prepare kids for college and the workforce.

Finally, we need to change what doesn't work in public education.

So shining a light isn't enough. Having a broad stroke of AYP and policy levers and penalties that are unconnected to actually improving schools doesn't work. But we need to begin the difficult work of turning around persistently failing schools to ensure that every child across our country has access to a good education.

That is the work we are not doing. It is the work we are not doing in this bill. It is the work we haven't done in committee in any meaningful way, and it joins the litany of issues that I hear about from my constituents on a daily basis.

Has this Congress balanced the budget? No.

Has the Congress resolved our immigration crisis as we have seen the temperature increase with the tens of thousands of young people on our southern border? No, we haven't taken a single step. In fact, this Congress hasn't even passed or brought to the floor or debated a single immigration bill.

For a while, we were hearing that there would be a ``piecemeal approach'' to immigration reform. We are nearing the end of the 113th Congress, and we haven't seen a single piece. I don't know what kind of a meal that is, but it is not one that satisfies one's appetite, and it doesn't satisfy the appetite of the voters not to see Congress deal with immigration reform, secure our border and replace our broken immigration system with one that works for our country.

People in the education world--teachers, students, families, school board members, principals across our country--all know what I hope my colleagues know, which is that ESEA is broken, that No Child Left Behind doesn't work. It has flaws that aren't ideological--they aren't Democrats say this or Republicans say this. It has formulas that don't make sense to anybody. It is the formula, namely, that declares that nearly every public school in our country is a failure.

Now, that can be something that some people might want to say rhetorically, but I don't think you will even find too many Democrats or Republicans saying that every public school in this country is a failure. I shouldn't say ``every.'' It is 99 percent or 95 percent of them. I think there are a few small ones that got through, but AYP sets up this apparatus that is nearly impossible for schools to meet, which is requiring that every student cohort achieve proficiency now. It sounded good. Congress mandated that every student become proficient, but it shouldn't be a great surprise that it didn't happen, so it is time to replace that with something that makes sense. If people rhetorically want to say all public schools are failing on either side of the aisle, they are welcome to it, but I think we all know that the reality is more nuanced in that there are good public schools and there are poorly performing public schools.

The way that you treat and deal with a good public school and public policy is not to say it is a failing one. You can praise it. You can say they are doing a great job. You can pat them on the back. You can certainly challenge them to do more, but that is a very different policy response to a persistently failing high school where six out of 10 kids who go in the door in ninth grade don't even graduate. That school is doing their community a disservice and is only increasing the rampant inequality of opportunity that plagues our country.

Instead of relying on temporary fixes and marginal improvements, I encourage this Congress to take on the real issues--to take on immigration reform, to take on balancing the budget, and, in this context, to take on ESEA: replace our broken education law No Child Left Behind with a bipartisan bill that we can be proud of and that will endure for the next decade; replace the Higher Education Act with a bipartisan bill that actually makes substantive progress around reducing the cost of college.

I want to thank Ranking Member Miller and Chairman Kline. I encourage my colleagues to vote against the rule, and I would encourage them to vote ``yes'' on both of these bipartisan bills.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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

I rise today to join my colleague in support of the Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act of 2013, a bill that I had the honor to coauthor with Representative Salmon. I greatly appreciate his work, as well as the work of many others on this bill.

This bill will help unleash innovation that promises to improve the quality of a college education and, just as importantly, if not more, reduce the cost. It will allow innovative colleges and universities to shorten the time it takes to earn a degree, reduce college costs through self-paced programs based on learning rather than time spent in the seat--and let's be honest, some of that time is often sleeping.

This innovation, which is called competency-based education, has a lot of promise. There is a lot to learn along the way, pitfalls to avoid. The benefits that we will learn over time promise to help allow students to work at their own pace and progress by mastering the knowledge of a course, which is essentially what the purpose of the course should be.

By demonstrating mastery of the course, regardless of how long it takes, we can, a, ensure employers that there is quality with regard to the outcomes of that course; and, b, reduce costs by allowing a student, if they are capable, to proceed faster.

This growing trend of innovation is very important because it provides a way to increase innovation and decrease costs. Since the last reauthorization in 2007, higher education has become more and more expensive.

Mr. Chairman, the cost of attending a university has risen by almost five times per student since 1983. At the same time that that cost has risen and a higher education has become harder and harder for American families to afford, the returns of a higher education have also increased.

College graduates who are working full time earn almost $17,000 more a year annually than their peers who only have a high school diploma.

While a 4-year university degree isn't always the best option for everyone, some form of postsecondary education, whether it is a community college or whether it is a certification program, has become increasingly imperative to landing a good-paying job in the 21st century workforce.

Competency-based education can increase access to higher education for both nontraditional students, as well as college-age students-- oftentimes who have a job--a family, and other commitments.

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that of the 17\1/2\ million people enrolled in college, only 15 percent were attending a 4-year college and living on campus.

So when we think about higher education and who is attending college, only 15 percent of those are having the experience I had or perhaps many of our colleagues had, where you go and you live in a dorm and you attend college for 4 years. That is only 15 percent.

The other 85 percent are doing something else. It might mean taking classes at night, it might mean online education, or it might mean taking

courses over a longer period of time. That has been the innovative center around cost reduction and improvements in quality.

H.R. 3136 will help align our higher education system with workforce needs. By providing a framework for measuring and assessing competencies, students are more likely to matriculate with the knowledge they actually need to master to be able to hold a good job.

Likewise, businesses will know what to expect upon hiring these students. That is why I am proud to say this legislation has garnered the support of the Chamber of Commerce, which has applauded competency- based education as an opportunity for employers to work with colleges to help identify skills and competencies for specific courses and programs.

This legislation, just as importantly, if not more, will help combat the rising cost of college. In higher education today, there are very few incentives for institutions to decrease costs.

To fully address this, we would need to do a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act--that is not what we have before us today--but we do have a constructive bill that will allow colleges and universities to adopt new technology, remove some of those barriers to innovation that exist today, and allow universities to look beyond delivering traditional classroom instruction, as they did in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, and look at what a classroom of the 21st century might look like beyond the walls of the physical classroom.

Competency-based education is one of the first innovations in higher education that is specifically designed to help decrease costs and make college more affordable, while also improving quality in terms of what the student has learned.

At its core, what we are talking about here today, competency-based education, flips the traditional campus model on its head, so that learning is the constant, and time and location are the variable and are self-paced.

The result is actually a more uniform and measurable education, ensuring that students actually learn what they are set out to learn versus sitting in a seat for a period of time.

Because competencies are demonstrable skills, schools can potentially form articulation agreements with one another even easier under this bill and under the innovation pilot programs allowed under this bill, saving students and taxpayers money and giving students and families more options, geographically and within a city.

I am thrilled that the Department of Education has done what they could to allow some programs to explore this model through their Experimental Sites Initiative, but there are several advantages to legislation.

First and foremost, we are able to expand the Experimental Sites Initiative from four programs to 20 under this bill, and secondly, we are giving congressional bipartisan approval to this concept, which is far more enduring than the whim of a particular Secretary or a particular administration.

I am proud to say that institutions in my home district, like Colorado State University's Global Campus, are demonstrating that online public universities with competency-based programs can lead the way in attracting, educating, and graduating adult learners and other contemporary students and, at the same time, benefit the physical campus of the public university.

Colorado State University-Global Campus was created by the Colorado State University System Board of Governors in 2007 as the very first 100 percent online State university in the United States.

A longtime leader in academic innovation, CSU-Global already offers alternative credit options, including competency-based exams, which meet or exceed the rigorous academic standards required of a State university. These options help students to manage out-of-pocket expenses and reduce the overall cost of their education, while also rewarding them for their demonstration of knowledge.

However, CSU-Global and programs like it still need to adhere to the overly rigid higher education structure, which inhibits innovation by limiting schedules on which students can enroll and when students can receive financial aid.

In order to continue to be successful and innovate, programs like CSU-Global need the flexibility that this bill enhances to meet their students' needs.

As Congress considers the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, this project is more crucial than ever. That is why I was proud to work with Representative Salmon on this legislation, which would permit institutions chosen by the Secretary to waive certain regulations that stand in the way of adopting competency-based models that reward both students and universities based on what students learn rather than how much time they sat in a seat, regardless of whether they are awake or asleep.

I want to thank Ranking Member Miller and Chairman Kline for working with my colleagues and I to craft this bipartisan bill that promises to increase innovation, increase equality, and decrease costs in higher education, and I strongly encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in voting ``yes'' on H.R. 3136 to support competency- based education and allow for laboratories of innovation across our great country as we all seek to reduce the costs and improve the quality of an increasingly important advanced education degree to help middle class families achieve their dreams in our country.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, it is my honor to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to inquire how much time remains on both sides.

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

Mr. Chairman, I am very excited that, at a time when there are great divisions in this body on so many substantive issues that the American people want us to address, be it immigration reform or addressing our budget deficit, or be it within the realm of education, replacing No Child Left Behind or ESEA with an education law that makes sense for our country, or the Higher Education Act, at least we are able to come together around innovation and removing barriers that currently exist to innovations in higher education that promise to improve the quality and help certify the quality of what students learn, and at the same time reduce costs and allow students more options and choices with regard to how they can pursue an advanced degree or particular content knowledge that can help them achieve the job of their dreams.

While I am pleased that Secretary Duncan and the administration have allowed some programs to explore this model through the Experimental Sites Initiative, this bill is even more important today because we will not only expand to 20 sites the number of sites that will be allowed to experiment with regard to competency-based education, but just as importantly, we will provide a more enduring, bipartisan imprint on this important innovative policy.

We live in a very exciting time, Mr. Chairman, and technology promises to help us reinvent both kindergarten through 12th-grade education, as well as higher education, in ways that benefit American families. But we must adopt our legal framework to ensure that that happens.

Rather than continue to exclusively reward time that sits in seats with a professor up front lecturing, we need to make sure we are inclusive enough and allow innovation that allows students to proceed at their own pace, in their homes, so long as they can demonstrate they can master the knowledge that is the goal of the course.

Employers benefit, which is why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports this bill, by knowing that students have achieved content area knowledge of the course. Universities like Colorado State University in Fort Collins benefit because through the auxiliary institution they are able to offer even more varieties of courses to both their on-campus students as well as the surrounding community.

Most importantly, students and families benefit by having more choices and being able to afford a college education

at a time when it is increasingly important in the global economy.

Competency-based education can increase quality and decrease costs, when done right. In allowing innovation and experimentation, we will learn what doesn't work and we will learn what does work. There are good ways to do it, and there are ways that fall short. But to be able to get to that answer that to employers and universities and families and our country offers so much promise, we need to allow this innovation to occur and change the restrictive laws that currently lock the bulk of funding into the seat time requirements of the Carnegie units.

I want to thank Ranking Member Miller, Chairman Kline, Representative Salmon, and others for working to craft this bipartisan bill that will increase both access and innovation in higher education.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3136 to support competency-based education and provide contemporary students with the ability to attain a degree that is based on their knowledge and skills instead of how long they are sitting in a seat.

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

Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, but I do not oppose the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, this manager's amendment would bolster the Department of Education's ability to help identify and share best practices from experimentation at demonstration project sites.

Really, through this careful review and analysis, lawmakers can be sure that competency-based education is working and can identify any future policy issues that would need to come back to us or others at the State level.

I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment so we can move one step closer to making colleges more affordable and accessible.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to consider the Walberg amendment next, out of order, and then to return to the original order as a courtesy to a Member.

Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentlewoman from Texas, I have an amendment at the desk, the Jackson Lee amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I am proud to support this amendment that Ms. Jackson Lee thoughtfully put together.

This amendment would ensure that the Department of Education is reaching out to colleges and systems that

educate minority, low-income, or students with special needs.

Some of those who stand to benefit the most under this innovation are first-generation college goers for whom cost is a major barrier to success. Minority-serving institutions are a critical thread in the fabric of America, and they should be included when experimenting with promising new education models.

Competency-based education programs are self-paced, helping ensure that students can work while they are in school, helping students who need a little more time to catch up or to learn concepts succeed and achieve at the highest levels.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield the remainder of my time to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition to the amendment, but I don't oppose the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, the Walberg amendment would allow institutions that have shown success with their demonstration projects to increase the number of students that can participate in their programs, helping to scale and allow more students to benefit.

By increasing the number of students in successful programs, we can better get a sense of how successful programs can be brought to scale.

Institutions should be rewarded with the ability to run a more robust demonstration project if their programs are reducing costs, improving quality, shortening time to degree. We should make sure that they are allowed to expand and remove any barriers to that.

Therefore, I am proud to join my colleague in support of the Walberg amendment. I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' so that institutions will be able to run more robust and scalable demonstration projects.

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

Mr. Chairman, as the designee of Mr. McNerney, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the McNerney amendment. This amendment will require participating institutions to show how they are addressing the needs of veterans and members of the Armed Forces in their demonstration project.

Americans with military experience, both present or in their past, stand to benefit tremendously from competency-based education because they leave the military with a wide range of practicable, demonstrable, and marketable skills.

I have talked to so many veterans in my district who felt that they received excellent education within the military around a particular task, but get no credit for that with regard to the demonstrable skills that they have achieved. This amendment will help that occur.

Ensuring that institutions report more on how veterans and members of the Armed Forces are performing in demonstration projects will help highlight those who have served our country to the Department of Education so we can better identify best practices and expand best practices to those who have served.

I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to my colleague from California (Mr. McNerney).

Mr. Chairman, we have no additional speakers on this side. I reserve the right to close.

Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. Chairman, I join my colleague, the chair of the committee, and others in encouraging my colleagues to support the McNerney and Polis amendment, so that veterans and members of the Armed Forces today can be better served by these demonstration projects and stand to benefit from the education they receive within the military itself.

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

Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition to the amendment, but I do not oppose this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Byrne's amendment would increase the number of institutions or consortiums allowed to participate in the demonstration project. Including more high-quality institutions in the demonstration project will yield more information and more innovation on the benefits and risks of competency-based education.

Including more institutions will accelerate the amount of experimentation and, therefore, the amount of learning that we as policymakers have, and also help increase the likelihood of identifying successful best practices to reduce college costs more quickly.

I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment so that more institutions can experiment with innovative, new, cost- effective education models.

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

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 677 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 677 provides for structured rules for consideration of H.R. 3136, the Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act, and H.R. 4984, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act.

The Rules Committee was pleased to work with Members on both sides of the aisle to provide for floor consideration of a number of their amendments. The resolution makes in order 11 amendments to H.R. 3136 and seven amendments to H.R. 4984. In total, the committee made in order nine Democrat amendments, three Republican amendments, and six bipartisan amendments.

As a member of the Rules Committee, it is a privilege to see the number of amendments we have been able to make in order this Congress and the openness of the legislative process. My hope is that we will continue to work together in a bipartisan fashion to advance good legislation.

My colleagues on the House Education and the Workforce Committee and I have been working to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. We have held 14 hearings and invited dozens of witnesses to discuss a wide variety of issues facing students, families, and institutions of higher education.

Since the last reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the landscape has been constantly evolving with the student population rapidly changing and institutions developing more cost-effective modes for delivering academic content.

The upcoming reauthorization provides policymakers an opportunity to improve the law and strengthen America's postsecondary system to ensure Federal policies are flexible enough to allow future developments and innovations to occur.

Based on feedback received from the public and the committee's desire to reform the law in a way that will assist students in obtaining an affordable higher education that leads to employment opportunities, the committee will promote reforms that adhere to the following principles: empowering students and families to make informed decisions; simplifying and improving student aid; promoting innovation, access, and completion; and ensuring strong accountability and a limited Federal role.

Reform will help more Americans achieve their dreams of a postsecondary education and help secure a more prosperous future for the country.

The rule before us today provides for consideration of two bills that will inform the reauthorization process. H.R. 3136 creates a demonstration project for competency-based education. Competency-based education allows students to demonstrate what they already know and learn at their own pace

by mastering specific skills and knowledge that translate to real-world application for their degrees.

H.R. 4984 ensures that students have the information needed to make good choices with their financial aid dollars and understand how to use that money well by increased financial counseling and services.

Education is a great opportunity in this country, and we have the most diverse system of postsecondary education in the world, with more than 6,000 public, private, nonprofit, and proprietary institutions of higher education. This diversity affords students from all backgrounds an opportunity to find an institution that meets their unique needs and helps them pursue personal goals of continuing their education.

The rule before us today starts that reform process, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the rule and the underlying bills.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Salmon), the prime sponsor on one of these bills.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the gentleman from Massachusetts is quite well aware that his amendment was not germane to this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce).

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

Mr. Speaker, the higher education landscape in America is changing to meet the demands of the ever more technologically engaged student population, as well as meeting the needs of adults who are coming back to college after some time in the workforce.

One of the most exciting innovations is competency-based education, which takes traditional degrees and college courses and maps them to specific skill sets or knowledge pieces, known as ``competencies.'' A student progresses through a course by mastering these skill sets and obtaining the knowledge to prove they understand the concept.

Many of these students are individuals returning to college after an interrupted first attempt where they dropped out of college. As Mr. Salmon said, many are veterans with skills that have not yet been equated to coursework. Now they hope to improve their skills and further their careers, but these adults have already been learning skills along the way through their jobs and life experiences. Competency-based education allows students to move quickly through concepts they understand and spend more time focusing on skills that they need.

Additionally, many of these programs apply the skills or concepts to real-world problems that students may have faced in their workplaces or in their families, which helps create a habit of continual learning and application.

While well-intentioned, Federal regulation has often gotten in the way of innovative programs because it cannot account for the rapid change taking place. That is why my colleague, Representative Matt Salmon, has authored H.R. 3136, the Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act. This legislation will promote this innovation by directing the Secretary of Education to implement pilot projects for competency-based programs that will deliver greater flexibility to institutions that want to provide students with a more personalized education experience.

The bill will ensure accountability by requiring annual evaluations of each of these projects to determine program quality and ensure student achievement. My hope is that these projects will better inform our reauthorization of the Higher Education Act by giving us proven results of what works and what does not work in the current regulatory framework. Additionally, it will help inform our discussions around financial aid and what learning in the 21st century classroom looks like.

I worked in higher education for many years and thought these changes were imminent long ago, but higher education change in the past has occurred at a leisurely pace. It is exciting today finally to see some of the ideas and concepts that have been around for years being more widely tested and finding success.

In our country, there are 4.6 million jobs going unfilled because employers are not able to find individuals with the right skill sets to meet their needs. As these individuals come back to school to improve their skills, we should find ways to recognize and give credit for what they have already learned to help them move through the

process more quickly. This bill will help students do just that by providing flexibility to institutions to create programs that meet those needs and holding them accountable for the results.

For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying bills, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, the other bill to be considered under this rule is H.R. 4984, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act, which will promote financial literacy through enhanced counseling for all recipients of Federal financial aid.

Making the decision to pursue postsecondary education can be challenging, and many students and families find themselves overwhelmed by the choices and new terminology. It is in the best interest of students and taxpayers alike that information about Federal aid be presented in a way that is easily understood.

Additionally, for most students, Federal financial aid provides them with more money than they are used to handling, and they struggle with how to manage properly their debt loads and living expenses. Students want to be treated as independent adults and therefore assume the responsibility that comes with their choices.

As they make the transition to college, or back to the classroom for adult learners, this bill seeks to help students make smart decisions about financing their education so they fully understand the circumstances they may face at the completion of their education.

This legislation ensures that borrowers, both students and parents, who participate in the Federal loan programs receive interactive counseling each year that is personalized to their individual situation, as well as review their loans each year and consent before receiving new Federal student loans.

The bill expands financial counseling to include students who receive a Pell grant, and it also directs the Secretary of Education to maintain and share a consumer-tested, online counseling tool institutions can use to provide annual loan and Pell grant counseling as well as exit counseling.

Mr. Speaker, it may surprise Members in this Chamber that I was the first person in my family to graduate from high school and go to college, where I worked full-time and attended school part-time. It took me 7 years to earn my bachelor's degree, and I continued to work my way through my master's and doctoral degrees.

From my own experience, I am convinced this is the greatest country in the world for many reasons, not the least of which is that a person like me who grew up extremely poor, in a house with no electricity and with no running water, with parents with very little formal education and no prestige at all, could work hard and be elected to the United States House of Representatives.

That is why I am passionate about ensuring that students have the opportunity to get an education but also understand the responsibility they are assuming in taking out a loan and the implications it may have on their family for years to come.

Throughout my career serving low-income, first-generation students, I know how rewarding an education can be, and this bill provides extra tools to help those students fully understand their commitments. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

We have worked in a bipartisan fashion on this legislation that is before us today and on some other legislation. Yesterday, the President signed H.R. 803, which we called the SKILLS Act when it left the House. I am very proud of that, and the President talked about how happy he was to sign that bill and how doing things in a bipartisan fashion felt so good.

But my colleague across the aisle keeps talking about ``the Congress.'' As he well knows, but sometimes does not present accurately to the American people, ``the Congress'' consists of two Chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives, as evidenced by what we are doing here today, is very serious about doing our work.

On average, the House is holding 37 hearings every week, fulfilling our oversight responsibilities. We have passed 321 bills that are sitting in the Senate and are not being taken up by Senator Reid, who is responsible for stopping meaningful legislation that will reduce energy costs and help create jobs in this country.

The record of House Republicans on fiscal issues is second to none. We have cut discretionary spending every year since taking control of the House. We have proposed reforms to many of our entitlement programs. If the gentleman is sincere in his desire for a balanced budget, I ask him to work with his ranking member on the Budget Committee to propose such a path. House Republicans have voted to support a pathway to balance, and Democrats have voted to raise taxes on hardworking Americans while never reaching balance.

Mr. Speaker, there is much work that needs to be done in this country, and we are facing lots of challenges. I believe that education is the most important tool Americans at any age can have. It was a privilege to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on the Education Committee to advance legislation that seeks to meet the needs of today's student population as well as to provide accountability for hardworking taxpayer dollars invested. I think the record of the Education and the Workforce Committee is very clear: when our colleagues across the aisle will work with us, we move legislation.

No legislation is perfect, and that is why I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to address their concerns and improve this legislation through the amendment process. Additionally, I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to find common ground on advancing higher education reform that will improve the opportunities and results for students and will provide accountability for taxpayers.

However, these bills provide a good foundation to work from, and as a proud supporter of this legislation, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule and the underlying bills.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Chair, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 3136, the ``Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act.''

I thank Chairman Sessions and Ranking Member Slaughter of the House Rules Committee for their management of the debate on the rule for H.R. 3136.

I thank Congressmen Polis and Salmon for their bipartisan work to draft this bill that the House is considering.

Chairman Kline and Congressman Polis, thank you for managing the debate the debate on H.R. 3136.

I appreciate and thank the bipartisan effort led by Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, Ranking Member Foxx, and the sponsors of H.R. 3136.

My appreciation to the Education Committee staff who worked with my staff on the Jackson Lee Amendment and for the Education Committee's support of the Jackson Lee Amendment to H.R. 3136.

As founder and co-chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus I am committed to seeing that every child and young person has the opportunity to grow up in a stable and safe home.

The first step for a safe and healthy childhood is the stability of the lives of adults in the lives of children.

I will speak more on the Jackson Lee Amendment when it is considered by the full House later today. The Jackson Lee Amendment would direct the Secretary of Education to conduct outreach to a number of underrepresented institutions regarding the federal education pilot grant program prior to the deadline for applications to be submitted for consideration for grant funds under the pilot program.

This bill does not do everything that I would hope that a higher education bill would do, but it is a step in the right direction. It would create more opportunities for Americans to have access to more high quality education; flexible higher education opportunities that can meet their education needs--which can open up a world of opportunities for older college students or those who struggle to receive degrees while raising children and working full time jobs.

H.R. 3136, the Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act will support federally funded pilot programs at secondary schools for Competency-Based Education programs that work to create certainty when a student progresses through a program that they are ready for the next step in their education.

We know that not everyone learns in the same way or at the same pace, but it is important that learning occurs. Adults have added pressures when they want to pursue education to compete for better paying jobs.

These programs may offer options that are not based on the traditional semester approach to classroom work, but on the steps that must be completed to move from one level of a training or education program to another.

Competence in any subject should be the foundation of education of students. If a student is returning to the classroom after years of work experience, this approach would best prepare them for being job ready upon graduation.

Competence-Based Education plans will aid students to master the lessons learned and enhance the student's educational experience, which will result in the maximum benefit to the student.

The challenge for the United States in the coming years is the STEM challenge--we have far more jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics available than people who are trained or educated to fill them.

The future of the economy is in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math careers.

The growth in STEM jobs is 3 times faster than job growth in non-STEM jobs.

Minority college students who major in STEM higher education make 25% more than minority graduates with non-STEM educations.

Minority students who take STEM jobs make 50% more than minority non- STEM graduates.

Women pursuing STEM higher education drop out of programs with higher grades than males who remain and graduate.

More than two-thirds of all STEM positions are filled by someone with a STEM degree.

Because of the current shortage of STEM workers for STEM positions and the projected need for STEM trained employees, the Federal government is in a race to attract and retain STEM employees.

According to Booze Hamilton's The Biggest Bang Theory, nearly a 25% of federal government employees are people who work STEM positions.

Stem workers earn 26% more than non-STEM graduates.

By 2018 we will need: 710,000 Computing workers, 160,000 Engineers, 70,000 Physical Scientists, 40,000 Life Science workers, and 20,000 Mathematics workers.

Mr. Chair, I ask that my colleagues vote in support of H.R. 3136.

Mr. Chairman, may I determine what time is left, please.

First of all, let me thank the managers of this legislation, who have really brought together an important concept, and I just want to call the name of the bill: the Advancing Competency- Based Education Demonstration Project.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, I am a big supporter of pilots because pilots provide information, and information generates a concrete program.

Mr. Polis, thank you so very much for bringing up my amendment, and thank you both, the chairman and the ranking member, for supporting this amendment.

Let me be very keen on what it is both to Chairman Kline and to Mr. Polis. This is to take what you have and to add to it or, I might say, to make it better. The reason is that information is a gift. If you have information, you can do a lot of things.

Mr. Chairman, I work with a lot of Historically Black Colleges, so the Jackson Lee amendment would direct the Secretary of Education, prior to any deadlines for colleges or universities to submit applications for the consideration in the pilot program, to conduct outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic- serving institutions, Native American-serving, nontribal institutions, institutions serving students with special needs, and institutions located in rural areas to provide information to them on the opportunity to apply to carry out a pilot demonstration project under this bill.

It is a whole gamut of individuals and colleges that this bill is directed to engage. Yes, there is general information, but I will tell you, when information is targeted, there are great successes that occur.

In my State alone, Texas ranks 43 out of 50 in State rankings with a 61.3 percent high school graduation rate. This statistic alone shows the need for dramatic improvements in our own system. However, there are great institutions that serve Native Americans, Hispanic-serving and African American, such as Texas Southern University and A&M. This outreach to them would provide these educators with working class residents the opportunity to get the right kind of information in order to develop competency-based education.

Texas Southern University has a technology program that trains young people for the new industries of today. They have a School of Public Affairs named after Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland, our colleagues here in the United States Congress. They have a transportation department, which is very much geared toward the new opportunities for transportation. Then, of course, they are into science, as I indicated, as well as technology and math.

We have sent out these brilliant graduates, and this pilot program in helping their faculty and helping the university would be a great start. My amendment is to give them the knowledge to be part of the solution.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment is information to be part of the solving of the problems. I want more students to graduate from high school, and I want them to have opportunities broad based.

Let me close on this note.

Many people ask about the value of Historically Black Colleges, Hispanic-serving, Native American institutions. Do you know what, Mr. Chairman? There are enough students who are not in college today who will fill all of the universities. All of these universities have a rightful place, and the history of Historically Black Colleges in their traveling through the years of postslavery is a great opportunity to continue to serve. Now, with Native American-serving institutions and Hispanic-serving institutions, I am delighted that this amendment is put before this body.

I ask my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee amendment, which will create more opportunity and more outreach.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I am pleased to offer the Jackson Lee Amendment that adds critical language to this bill.

I would like to thank Chairman Kline and Congressman Polis for their work in managing the debate on the rule for H.R. 3136.

I thank my colleague Congressman Polis for his authorship of the bill and his leadership in working in a bipartisan way with the Education Committee to provide on this legislation that would address the education needs of non-tradition College and university students.

I appreciate and thank the bipartisan work the Education Committee staff who worked with my staff on the Jackson Lee Amendment, and for the Education Committee's support of the Jackson Lee Amendment.

The Jackson Lee amendment is simple, and would further the goals of the bill.

The Jackson Lee Amendment would direct the Secretary of Education prior to any deadlines for colleges or universities to submit applications for consideration in the pilot program to conduct outreach to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Native American-serving, non-tribal institutions, institutions serving students with special needs, and institutions located in rural areas to provide information to them on the opportunity to apply to carry out a pilot demonstration project under this bill.

Texas ranks 43rd out of the 50 in state rankings with a 61.3 percent high school graduation rate. This statistic alone shows the need for dramatic improvements to Texas' education system.

There will be adults who will benefit from the programs supported by this bill by creating education options that consider that some adults who may want to pursue a degree may need to first receive a GED.

The Texas Southern University located in my Congressional District will benefit from the outreach in making timely information available to the institution regarding the competency-based education demonstration projects Pilot program created by the bill.

TSU is uniquely situated in the heart of a community that it has served the education needs of for decades.

Institutions like TSU provide great educations to working class residents of Houston that is affordable, which means they often do not have Washington, DC based offices and may not receive notice of this opportunity unless efforts are made to conduct outreach to them.

Because of TSU's size it is within their scope and experience to develop a competency-based education pilot program that breaks the learning process down into stages that will attract students who may be unemployed, underemployed or considering a career change from the surrounding residential community where the TSU is located.

The institutions that may benefit from the inclusion of the Jackson Lee Amendment could reach students who are late in life--but still dream of earning a degree, but think that it is far out of reach.

Education programs that support training in a trade would be strengthened through this bill by ensuring that students are job ready upon completion of a certification or education program.

Mr. Chair, I ask that my colleagues support the Jackson Lee Amendment the H.R. 3136, the Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4984.

Madam Chair, I rise today in strong support of the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chair, every family knows the cost of pursuing a higher education is out of control. It is felt intensely each and every day by countless Americans, by parents who worry how they will put their kids through college, by students who fear they will be left with a pile of debt and no job prospects, and by working men and women who hope a degree will let them reach the next rung on the economic ladder.

We know that solutions to the college cost problem must ultimately come from States and institutions, but there are things Congress can do right now to keep the dream of a postsecondary education within reach.

Helping students find the right institution is one way we can make a difference. Yesterday, the House passed, with strong bipartisan support, the Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act. The legislation will arm students with the best information available in a format that is easy to understand, information that includes key facts such as an institution's costs, completion rates, and student loan debt.

Students and families currently face a tsunami of information that is the

mostly confusing, conflicting, and unnecessary. The bill streamlines the information and how it is delivered, enabling students to be smart shoppers in the college marketplace.

However, picking an institution is only half the challenge. Families then have to figure out how to pay for it, and far too many are unprepared to make those tough decisions. Some students choose loans and debt when other assistance in the form of grants and scholarships are readily available. And those that do opt for student loans often have no real concept of what they are getting into or what it means for their future.

Clearly, current policies promoting financial literacy are coming up short. That is why I am pleased to support the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. This bipartisan legislation includes a series of reforms that will help students and families make wise financial decisions about their postsecondary education.

For example, the bill ensures borrowers--both students and parents-- receive annual counseling that reflects their personal situations and requires consent each year before receiving a Federal loan. The legislation also makes sure low-income individuals who rely on Pell grants are informed about the terms and conditions of their grant.

The bill also delivers more robust counseling upon graduation, requiring that information on a borrower's loan balance and anticipated monthly payments be provided. Finally, the legislation directs the Secretary of Education to maintain a consumer-tested, online counseling tool that will help institutions put this important information into the hands of those who need it.

Madam Chairman, this legislation is part of a broader effort to strengthen our Nation's higher education. Neither this bill nor the bills passed earlier this week are a silver bullet to challenges we face. However, by working together, we can begin to make a difference in the lives of students and families, and that is precisely what the House is doing.

Madam Chairman, I want to thank the bipartisan authors of the legislation, Representatives Brett Guthrie, Richard Hudson, and Suzanne Bonamici.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill and reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I am now pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie), a key member of the committee.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, we have no further speakers on this side, and I am prepared to close, so I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Again, I want to thank my colleagues from the committee, the principal authors of this bill--Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Hudson, and Mr. Guthrie--for their fine work here and for the spirit of enthusiasm and bipartisanship which they have brought to this effort.

I would remind all of my colleagues, as we move forward towards reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, this is absolutely not the whole thing, but it is another important step down that road.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, I rise in support of the manager's amendment. This amendment is brought forth in close cooperation with the ranking member of the committee, my friend George Miller.

This amendment will improve the information provided to first-time student loan borrowers and clarify that borrowers must accept their loans annually after they have completed their counseling.

The amendment will also require the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences to collect a study of the impact and effectiveness of the student loan counseling required under this act.

This amendment ensures borrowers are getting the information they need prior to making their final decisions on how to pay for their college education. It also ensures policymakers have information on how well financial aid counseling is working to prevent overborrowing and what can be improved to make it even more effective.

The underlying bill, which received unanimous support coming out of the committee, will deliver students and parents the tools and information they need to borrow and repay their student loans in a responsible way. This amendment improves the bill.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from Oregon for her support of this amendment. She is a principal author of the underlying legislation and her support of this amendment is very, very helpful.

I urge all my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although I do not oppose the amendment.

Madam Chair, I want to make the point that I am supporting all of the amendments offered today, but I wanted to take this opportunity with this particular amendment to thank the gentlewoman from California, because this amendment makes sure that these students in this confusing world that we are trying to help sort out get a clear explanation that their Pell grant eligibility is limited to 12 semesters and it will not reset if they transfer.

That is just an example of the kind of confusion that is out there, and it is one of the reasons that we insisted on putting counseling for Pell grant recipients, not just loan recipients, in the base bill. But her language brings absolute clarity to this issue. I thank her for that.

I support this amendment and the other amendments, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment, although I do not oppose the amendment.

Madam Chair, I think, again, this amendment is underscoring the many issues that students and their parents and families are facing as they go into this postsecondary education adventure. Some of them, really, are coming off of jobs. The last thing they are thinking about is bankruptcy or the size of their loans. Most of them don't even know what bankruptcy is--or many of them don't know. Maybe they are a lot smarter than I was at that time.

This amendment makes it clear that they understand the difference between the rules under a student loan--if they don't pay it or can't pay it--and under other loans. Without this sort of explanation, they wouldn't have any idea that their loans were not dischargeable in bankruptcy except, as the gentleman says, in some unusual circumstances.

Again, that is why this sort of financial counseling early and often is going to be very careful, because this isn't a simple matter of taking out--we will use a car loan as an example with a set amount, a set interest--a set amount that you pay back for a set number of years. Folks understand how that works. But in having student loans merged with all sorts of other programs--workstudy programs and Pell grants and so forth--it is no wonder that students are graduating, stepping out and--oh, by the way--they can't find jobs because the economy is in so much trouble. They had such high expectations when they stepped into their college experiences or their postsecondary experiences, and then they came out and found out that the jobs weren't available, and they have this confusing mess that they have to deal with, and the last thing that they ever gave any thought to was this whole notion of bankruptcy.

I thank the gentleman for his amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Now I can't pass it up.

Madam Chair, there is quite a bit of difference in the Mississippi River between the gentleman's district and Minnesota. In fact, you can step across the Mississippi River in Minnesota, and I don't think that is true--in fact, I am absolutely positive that it is not true-- anywhere else. It is always interesting when we have guests come to our great

State. When we ask them if they would like to step across the river, they are disbelieving until we take them up there to Itasca. Literally, it is no wider than this desk.

I wish that trying to figure out one's student loans and grants and workstudies were as easy as getting across the Mississippi River.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.