The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would finance the federal government through March 4, setting the stage for spending battles next year. The measure, which the House of Representatives is expected to approve later today, would pay down a $5.7-billion shortfall in the Pell Grant program, averting a 15-percent cut in the maximum award. But Republicans, who will control the House come January, are already signaling that they may not be so generous in the future. In a news release issued today, the incoming chairman of the House Appropriations Committee described the additional Pell money as a “bailout” for the program.
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3 Responses to Last-Minute Budget Bill Spares Pell Grant Program
11223140 - December 21, 2010 at 4:28 pm
And a Pell grant shortfall “bailout” is a bad thing? Oh, that’s right — corporate welfare and public subsidies of corporate black holes are one thing, needy college students are another. I guess for a moment I forgot the lesson of the film “Network.” jimeddy
cragie - December 22, 2010 at 7:51 am
Isn’t the “rescue” of Pell Grants a moot point? If there are no feds or contractors to administer the program, then the grant funding alone is a pyrric victory for students and colleges. The failure to get an administrative appropriation beyond March means that the new House leadership will be able to waste time trying to retroactively slash FY 2011 monies — their avowed goal in preventing the enactment of not only a FY 2011 omnibus but even the modest year-long CR that the House had passed last week.
nscott - December 24, 2010 at 1:37 pm
In this time when there are so many people unemployed, we should not be cutting Pell Grant money. Many people who are trying to get themselves retrained to find work depend on this money to get their skills upgraded so they can find work. I for one just used Pell Grant money for the first time. I took four classes, now I am half way to obtaining a Certificate in Microsoft Software. I could not have done this without the help of a Pell Grant.
We need to put accountable education first in this country again! We should be the top nation in graduates of education!