Republicans Continue to Mislead Public on Historic Student Aid Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today House Republicans once again proved that they’re more committed to finding cheap budgetary tricks that will help them score political points than having a meaningful, honest debate about legislation that will help students and parents pay for college.
For the second time in two days, Republicans asked the Congressional Budget Office to manipulate an analysis of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221), a bill that will invest almost $90 billion in additional student aid for families and pay down the deficit – and at no cost to taxpayers.
Much to the Republicans’ chagrin, CBO has officially estimated that this legislation saves $87 billion over 10 years.
“It’s unfortunate that the Republicans are choosing to spend their time conjuring up cheap political tricks rather than working to help students and families in a very difficult economy,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and the author of the legislation. “Their first desperate attempt to mislead the public didn’t work yesterday, and it won’t work today. Students, families, and taxpayers aren’t fooled – they know that this bill will make historic investments to make college affordable and that it’s completely paid for.”
All of the student aid programs included in the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act are mandatory and will end at the dates specified in the bill. Any additional funding for these benefits would also have to meet pay-as-you-go budget requirements, which require that any new spending be paid for.
Even though the Budget Committee has said that the programs in HR 3221 do indeed end at the dates specified in the bill, the Republican analysis released today asked CBO to hypothetically score the cost of these programs if they didn’t expire, as the legislation requires.
To view the official CBO estimate of this bill, click here.
For more information on the first manipulated analysis released by Republicans yesterday, click here.
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