Scott: Higher Ed Bill Reflects GOP 'War Against Students'

House Democrats came out swinging Tuesday against a GOP plan to overhaul the main federal law governing higher education and student aid.

Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, called the legislation part of the GOP’s “war against students,” saying it continues cuts to higher education in Republican tax plans.

Scott said the plan would “put corporate interests first and students last.” He said the bill would provide greater access to federal funding for for-profit institutions, while scaling back grant aid and other programs for students attending traditional colleges and universities.

“This bill assumes that the problem with college affordability is that we’re giving students too many resources to go get an education or training,” Scott said.

Democrats unsuccessfully sought to delay Tuesday’s markup of the legislation, H.R. 4508 (115), complaining that the nearly 600-page bill was drafted through a partisan process with too little time for public input.

“We are seeing basically a wrecking ball” to student aid programs in the bill, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said.

Democratic heads of the congressional black, Asian and Hispanic caucuses also announced their opposition to the bill.

The GOP plan would “lead to a two-tiered system of higher education — one that reserves four-year and graduate degrees for the wealthy, while relegating low-income students to workforce training credentials with no federal oversight or guarantee of quality,” wrote Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Cedric Richmond, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and Michelle Lujan Grisham, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

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