U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), outgoing chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, laid out his vision for reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA) this year in a speech on Monday, according to U.S. News & World Report
"My goal is to report that legislation out this spring of our committee so the full Senate can consider it this summer," he said Monday at an event at the American Enterprise Institute. "That schedule should permit a conference with the House of Representatives with their version of reforms for the Higher Education Act so that we can produce a present for 20 million college students and their families by Christmas."
In the speech, Alexander outlined his top priorities for a bill to overhaul the massive higher education law: streamlining the federal student aid application, simplifying student loan repayment options; and establishing a new accountability system based on student loan repayment rates. He also expressed interest in expanding competency-based programs, financial aid counseling for students and families, simpler loan language, and Pell grants for prisoners.
The news of Alexander's plans, by itself, does little to increase the likelihood that a divided Congress could come to an agreement on legislation, reported The Chronicle of Higher Education. The senator, who has announced that he will not seek re-election next year, also sought to reauthorize the HEA last year, but no such bill was introduced in his committee.
This time, however, his plans are accompanied by pledges of bipartisan cooperation. Alexander has already met with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking member of the HELP committee, along with nine other committee members, to talk about compiling nearly a dozen bipartisan proposals into a single piece of legislation, U.S. News reported.
While negotiations stalled in the Senate last year, a Republican proposal to overhaul the HEA in the House, named the PROSPER Act, failed to garner enough support for a floor vote after a campaign by higher education groups to stop the legislation. Congressional Democrats later introduced their own proposal that essentially rebutted the major proposals of the GOP legislation. After retaking the House in November, Democrats said they would move forward with a new version of their own higher education bill, reported Inside Higher Ed.
House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) has said updating the Higher Education Act is a priority. Scott said last week that Democrats and Republicans were "obviously going in different directions" in their respective higher education bills during the last Congress. "If we can get it done by the end of the year, it'll be a great accomplishment," he said at the time.
Related Links
U.S. News & World Report
https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-02-04/sen-lamar-alexanders-mission-to-overhaul-the-higher-education-law
The Chronicle of Higher Education
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Could-Congress-Pass-a-New/245614
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/02/05/alexander-lays-out-vision-new-higher-ed-law