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Pelosi: Higher Education Bill is Bipartisan Investment in College Affordability and in America's Middle Class

July 31, 2008

Contact:Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after the House approved the Higher Education Opportunity Act Conference Report by a vote of 380 to 49. The Senate could pass the Conference Report as early as today:

"By making college more affordable for all and more accessible for minority students, the first new higher education authorizing legislation in a decade will help strengthen our nation and America's middle class, and spur a new age of innovation and ingenuity in our country.

"This bill builds on our work last year when we cut student loan interest rates in half and increased Pell Grants. This legislation will help hold down rising tuition, simplify the financial aid application process, and clean up the student lending scandals of recent years.

"We owe a great deal of thanks to Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, who brought us forward-looking legislation that is an investment in job creation and in students who will help power America's economic future. We look forward to the President signing into law this bipartisan investment in college affordability and in our nation's middle class."