Legislation & Politics

Letter to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce opposing the budget reconciliation bill

October 25, 2005

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the 1.4 million members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), I strongly urge you to oppose the reconciliation bill that contains as much as $20 billion in cuts to vital education and retirement programs that are in the jurisdiction of the Education and Workforce Committee.

There can be no more graphic display of the misguided and immoral priorities of the House of Representatives' leadership than this package of cuts which is being justified in the name of fiscal responsibility to reduce budget deficits caused by huge tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy.

The budget resolution passed last spring had already required the Education and Workforce Committee to shoulder a disproportionate share of the total required spending cuts of $35 billion. Although the committee's jurisdiction represented only about one percent of total entitlement savings, it had originally been asked to produce a savings target of $12.65 billion, or 36 percent of the total mandatory savings called for in the resolution. Now that the Committee is seeking additional cuts in order to meet the new and higher $50 billion reconciliation target, the proposed cuts that the Committee is considering will hit students, workers and retirees with a force equivalent to a category five hurricane.

The student loan programs had already borne a disproportionate share of FY 2006 spending cuts. Although federal student loans are less than one percent of all entitlement spending, the Committee had already approved almost $9 billion in cuts, which represents about 25 percent of the total entitlement cuts. And as a result students will have to pay an average of $3,800 more in the interest on their loans. Now the committee is planning to make additional cuts of over $7 billion in the student loan programs that will further increase the interest costs to students and their families and could weaken the basic structure of the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the 40-year-old program that provides $40 billion in student loans to millions of students and their parents at some 6,000 institutions across the country.

Ultimately, the increased costs of borrowing, which will fall directly on students and their families, coupled with the cuts on lenders and guaranty agencies will mean that fewer students will be financially able to attend college. Further cuts to the lenders and guaranty agencies will make it far more expensive for private, non-profit and state-based organizations to participate in the student loan program, the effect of which is to ultimately raise loan costs and hamper service levels to schools. Reducing access to higher education is a false economy that will make the U.S. less competitive in the global marketplace at a time when America is already sliding from a longstanding dominant position and American students continue to score near the bottom in international rankings of critical math and science proficiency. These harmful cuts should be rejected.

I strongly urge you to oppose these reconciliation cuts.


Sincerely,

Charles M. Loveless
Director of Legislation

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