20-year-olds, 24-year-olds around the country and what they think about the n.s.a. infringing upon their privacy, they're the ones that were outraged by it. so i think this makes sense, and i guess i'm disappointed in the opposition. i believe in our youth in america. i believe they should have the right to their data and how their data is used. so i would encourage my colleagues to support this amendment. with that i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from wisconsin. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. . in the opinion of the chair, the ace have it, the amendment is ed -- the ayes have it, the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 8 printed in art a of house report 113-546. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. gowdy: mr. chairman, i have an amendment the desk. -- amendment at the desk.

the clerk: amendment number 8 printed in part a of house report 113-546 offered by mr. gowdy of south carolina. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 677, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. gowdy, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina. mr. gowdy: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to start by recognizing and thanking my friend and chairman, john kline from minnesota, for his leadership not just on this bill but on the whole jurisdiction of education and the work force. i want to also thank the folks on the staff, mr. chairman, of the education and work force, mr. miller, and especially my friend, peter welch, for working with me on this amendment. the underlying bill, mr. speaker, as you know, seeks to support innovation and -- in higher education by reenvisioning how regulators and institutions have measured student progress and student aid and this bill, mr. chairman, sets up demonstration

projects to study the effect of competency-based education. our amendment, mr. chairman, simply permits participation of dual enrollment programs to be included in the demonstration project's created and as the chairman knows, many students, in fact i'm reluctant to cite statistics but i think it's well north of a million students have demonstrated from dual enrollment classes. in fact, mr. chairman, i live with a student that has nefited back home, both at norman high school and spartanburg high school, probably other high schools have partnered with schools of higher learning to prepare our children to, number one, be able to gauge the speed of pitches in college. the pitchers pitch a little faster in college sometimes than they do in high school. but more significantly, particularly for my daughter's friends, it enables them to go ahead and start getting college credit and reducing both your

case load and more importantly the cost when these children decide to matriculate. the dual enrollment programs are widespread and they deserve to be considered as part of the demonstration projects. and with that i would reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont rise? mr. welch: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to the amendment although i am not opposed. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. welch: first of all, i do want to thank mr. kline and mr. miller for bringing this bill to the floor and i want to thank the staffs for working with mr. gowdy and i on this amendment and an amendment to follow. one of the things that brought mr. goudy and i together is -- gowdy and i together is a concern about the cost of education. i know that has been a major concern for the education and work force committee. but one of the dilemmas that we have is that if we put more money in as taxpayers, and i'm

a strong supporter of more grant and more aid for our colleges, but if that just gets -- if every dollar we put in is a dollar increase in tuition, then the students are treading water and the taxpayers are treading water. so what are some of the things that we can do to try to help give the flexibility to our institutions of higher learning , the ability to actually accelerate graduation and therefore help potentially lower the cost? mr. gowdy outlined what this competency-based learning amendment would do. it would reward students who have some ambition and get started early, it would allow college administrators to properly give credit for that seriousest on the part of students and -- serious effort on the part of students and it might help reverse what has been a trend where a lot of kids, students, are taking more than four years to graduate and allow them the opportunity with

their effort and discipline to graduate in less than four years. you graduate in 3 1/2 years, that's a significant savings to that family and that student who's borrowing money as a way of getting ahead in this society. so i really appreciate the focus that the committee has had on this question and appreciate very much the work of mr. gowdy and -- in trying to present to this body this amendment which will help i think facilitate the goal of making college more affordable. it is absolutely so essential to the young people of this country. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from south carolina. mr. gowdy: in summation, mr. chairman, i want to thank again the chairman, the gentleman from minnesota, for his willingness to entertain other people's ideas for his hard work, and the full book of business that they do on education and the work force, particularly the women and men

who work so hard on the staff. and my friend from vermont, who is always open to areas of consensus and agreement and working across the aisle. and with that i would yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from vermont. mr. welch: i would say the same to mr. gowdy. appreciate working with him on this and also on our committee on oversight and government reform. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time having expired, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from south carolina. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: on that i request the yeas and nays. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from south carolina will be postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 9 printed in

. rt a of house report 113-546 for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. polis: mr. speaker, the gentleman from colorado seeking recognition. the chair: are you the designee of the amendment? mr. polis: i have an amendment at the desk as the designee of ms. meng. the clerk: amendment number 9 printed in part a of house report 113-546 offered by mr. polis of colorado. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 677, the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: thank you, mr. speaker. today i'm proud to rise in support of the meng amendment. this amendment would ensure that the secretary of education assesses the useability of the free application for federal student aid, which we often

call fafsa in the business, for students with limited english proficiency. access to student aid should always be free, but the technical form is often hard to understand and complete, when a student, or particularly their parents', first language isn't english. i've looked at the form and it's hard enough to understand in english, mr. speaker, as a native speaker. assessing the useability of this every decade will allow the department of education to adapt changing demographs at colleges across the country -- demographics at colleges across the country. i encourage my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment so students can have better and easier access to federal student loan aid programs for free and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. does anyone wish to speak in opposition? the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, the amendment s agreed to.

it is now in order to consider amendment number 10 printed in part a of house report 113-546. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. gowdy: i have an amendment at the desk, mr. chairman. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 10 printed in part a of house report 113-546 offered by mr. gowdy of south carolina. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 677, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. gowdy, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina. mr. gowdy: thank you, mr. chairman. i again want to thank mr. kline and all the hard working folks on education and work force, the members and especially the women and men of the staff. the upstate of south carolina, mr. chairman, is home to several higher education

institutions, public and private, large and small. and the issue of education affordability is front and center. and frankly, mr. chairman, families are struggling, try be to be able to plan for their kids' future. and i know that both because i have the benefit of representing these families and i hear from them and i also know it, mr. chairman, i have a 17-year-old daughter and while she's blessed in many ways compared to her contemporaries, lots and lots of her friends come to the house from time to time and, you know, we preach to people that the road to prosperity is paved with hard work and education. but when that road is riddled with pot holes called unsustainable debt, i don't know how we can expect them to get to the end. you figure out what the cost of education is, and many of these instances these children are the first ones in their family to try to go to school.

and so they're looking at it, they've done well in high school, they've done everything we've asked them to do and they're staring in some instances at massive amounts of debt just so they can do what we promised them, which is if you work hard and you get an education, the pathway to prosperity will be paved for you. so against that backdrop, my friend from vermont and i decided, let's look at regulations and what impact they may have on the cost of higher education. mr. chairman, as you well know, you may conclude that a regulation is worth it, it may cost money, but it may still be worth it. that's fine. that's a separate analysis. but there really is no reason to not study the regulations themselves to see what impact they are having. so i give a lot of credit to the gentleman from vermont who approached me with this idea, i think it's a solid idea. i can't imagine any reason not to form a task force or a working group to study

regulations and what impact, whether wittingly or unwittingly, those regulations are having on the cost of higher education. and with that i would yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. gowdy: reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont rise? mr. welch: speak in opposition to this -- claiming the time in opposition although i am for the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. welch: thank you, mr. speaker. this question of college debt that my colleague, mr. gowdy, spoke about, that is brutal, it's not a red state-blue state deal, it's not a republican-democratic deal. it's young people getting out of college with a mountain of debt and they're starting out with the equivalent of a mortgage. and there's been an enormous amount of attention in this body about how to deal with that. and a lot of debate about how to deal with it. and i know mr. miller's been a champion on this cause, along with mr. tierney on our side and i know mr. goudy and mr. kline on the other side --

gowdy and mr. kline on the other side. but i push back to some extent on our college administrators because it's not just a matter of what taxpayers can afford to fund by way of grant and aid or what families can afford to put up from their hard-earned savings, it's a question of what will college administrators do to try to keep those tuition increases down? so we need the active participation of our college administrators. and when i talked to mr. gowdy, he talked to his folks, the president of clemson, i spoke with the president of the university of vermont and some of our other college leaders in vermont, and they were somewhat resistant to the notion of us getting involved in what what they saw as their job and made some complaints that regulations were causing them to have to spend money. now, sometimes that can be an excuse, but i think what mr. gowdy said is the right way to go. let's take a look at them. i happen to think there are times when you need a law and you need regulation.

title 9 has been a law that has done an immense amount of good for young women who want the full opportunity to be as athletic as young men. and that was a law that did real good. sometimes regulations do good. but not always. and instead of just having a debate about more regulation or no regulation, what will gowdy and i are saying, hey, let's get the people who are affected by this from all sides, have them take a look at these things, and come up with an analysis of, this is working, this isn't working. because as a person who is in favor of law and regulation in appropriate cases, i'm against bad regulations that just get in the way of a good education and affordability. so this doesn't stack the deck either way. but it does allow partieses who are involved and having to deal with regulations to have a way of looking at them, assessing them and making recommendations

about it. what i see as beneficial on this is that we're going to have this as a tool to get our college administrators more actively involved with us in what is i think an enormous challenge of our times and that's to make college affordable and sustainable for the hardworking families in your district, mr. speaker, and in mine and mr. gowdy's. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from south carolina. . mr. gowdy: different minds will differ as to the propriety of certain regulations. that's part of the beauty of our country. what i think all reasonable minds could concur on is that we should look at what the numbers are, to instruct the debate if the benefit is worthy of the cost. i want to thank mr. kline and i want to thank my friend from

vermont for always being willing to listen to other people's ideas and usually the ones i have, he improves and makes them better. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from vermont. mr. welch: i thank my co-sponsor and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time for debate having expired, the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from south carolina. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 11 printed in part a of house report 113-546. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk -- the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. >> amendment printed in part -- the clerk: amendment printed in rt a of house report 113-66,

offered by mr. grayson of florida. the chair: pursuant to the resolution, the gentleman from florida, mr. grayson, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. grayson: my amendment would require the secretary of education in coordination with the i.r.s. to conduct a study of the feasibility of using individual income tax returns as the primary form of application for student financial aid applications. personally, mr. chairman, i see no reason why american families are required to submit two exhaustive overviews of their financial situation to the federal government each year if they have a family member who is seeking a student loan. individual tax returns provide a complete picture of the taxpayer's financial situation. why should they also be forced to fill out a secondary, onerous financial aid form to the department of education as well? in the past few year the department of education has built an i.r.s. data retrieval

trool into the -- retrieval tool into the application form to save time in filling out the form. i hope we can take this further. i think that using one form, already required of all income-earning americans is the best way to do it. my amendment today would simply ensure that congress has all the information that it needs in order to accomplish such a transition. i urge my colleagues to support this effort, streamline the student aid process, and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> i'd like to claim time in opposition to the amendment though i do not oppose the amendment. the chair: without objection the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. kline: this amendment which using s the study of income tax forms to apply for

student aid is an idea growing in popularity. simplifying the student aid application has been proposed by a number of my colleagues. representatives bucshon, kelly, tierney, bishop, polis, and royce introduced h.r. 4982 the simplifying application for student aid act which address this is issue as well. that bipartisan legislation would streamline and improve the student aid application process by allowing students to import into their application i.r.s. income data from two years prior to the date of application. the gentleman's amendment today will help inform us how better to simplify this process. i thank him for offering the amendment, i urge my colleagues to support it and i yield back. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. grayson: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from florida. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the

ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 8 printed in part a of house report 113-546 by the gentleman from south carolina, mr. gowdy, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 8 printed in part a of house eport 113-546.

offered by mr. gowdy of south carolina. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a railroaded vote is ordered. -- a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 403, the nays are zero.

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 412, the nays are zero. the amendment is adopted.

the chair: on this vote, the yeas are 413, the nays are zero, he amendment is adopted.

the question is on the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is adopted. accordingly, under the rule, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: mr. speaker. the committee of the whole house on the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 3136 and pursuant to house resolution 677 i report the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the

whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee h.r. -- der the bill under consideration the bill h.r. 3136 and pursuant to house resolution 677 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. under the rule, the previous question is ordered. is there a separate vote demanded on any amendments to the amendment reported from the committee of the whole? if not, the question on adoption of the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to establish a demonstration program for ompetency-based education.

the speaker pro tempore: would you please take your conversations off the floor. could we clear the well and take our conversations off the floor. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition? >> i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the bill? >> in its current form, i am. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman qualifies, the clerk will report the many motion. the clerk: mr. tierney of massachusetts moves to recommit the bill h.r. 3136 to the committee on education and the work forest with instructions to report the same back to the house forthwith with the following amendment. at the end of the bill, add the following new section. section, providing students with

rebates to lower their education costs, a, rebates authorized. the secretary of education may use funds made available under this section to provide a rebate to a borrower of a loan made under part b or part d of farther four of the higher education act of 1965. 20 united states code. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will suspend. the house is not in order. mr. tierney: i ask that we dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. tierney: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. s the final amendment to the bill, mr. speaker. it won't kill the bill, and it won't send it back to committee. if this amendment is adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman deserves to be heard.

the gentleman will continue. mr. tierney: thank you. student loan debt is at a crisis level in this country. outstanding student loans now total more than $1.2 trillion. that surpasses total credit card debt and every year students are asking for more and taking more. and as the 71% of college seniors had debt in 2012 with an average outstanding balance of $29,400, for those who war rowed to get a batch -- who borrowed to get a bachelor's degree. my constituents and the constituents of my colleagues are call, emailing, posting on facebook and approaching members on the street, asking to share their stories about how they've been buried in student loan debt. this debt is causing them to put on hold the rest of their life. decisions such as whether or not they can move out of their parent's home, whether or not they can buy a car, purchase their own home, get married or consider starting a family. a young woman from boston, massachusetts, wrote to me and said, and i quote, i pay more

than the minimum balance every month. i sacrifice daily for my loans. i live at home, have a 50-minute commute to work every day because i can't afford to live on my own or even with roommates. i can't have the dreams i've dreamed of all my life. i'm 23 and i'm already telling myself that i can't own a house, that i will probably never have children because i can't afford to bring them into the world and take care of them then i can't even afford to take care of myself. that's what i live with every day, the anger, depression and disbelief that i'm forever stuck, closed quote. parents are calling and writing to me, they want to talk about the anxiety they have and concern they have over the debt their sons and daughters have accumulated. some parents have delayed their own retirement or made early withdrawals from their 401k to help their students with a student loan debt. a mother from middleton, massachusetts, wrote to me and said, and i quote, i have two children with multiple student loans. it's difficult enough to graduate, to find a job in the field they desire and to pay

loans and rent and bills, etc. please do all you can to make sure rates are not increased. my children may never afford to buy a house and live the american dream because of college student loan debt, close quote. mr. speaker, those are only two examples from my district. i'm sure there are untold others throughout this country. millions are suffering this particular situation, all across the nation. we need to start listening to them, we need to start taking action on their behalf. this motion is a modified version of the legislation i filed in the house and that congressman miller filed with me. it has over 130 co-sponsors and the support of dozens of respected organizations. senator elizabeth warren has filed its counterpart in the senate this motion is the functional equivalent of allowing responsible refinancing of student loans. we allow homeowners and car owners to refinance to a lower interest rate. student loan borrows should be able to do the same with their high interest loan, converting them into lower interest loans, particularly right now when

interest rates are so low and they should be able to take advantage of that fact. when you get down to it, the question is, whose side are we on? are we on the side of the young woman and others of her generation who feel forever stuck? are we on the side of the mother from middleton and millions like her who are concerned about their children's future? let's support the motion and show them whose side we're on, that we're on their side. let's support the motion and show tens of millions of students, graduates and parents, middle class families, who would be able to refinance their loans at a lower interest rate and get their life started, that we're on their side. mr. speaker, it's time to stand up and be counted. i ask members to support this motion. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> i claim time in opposition to the motion. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for ive minutes.

mr. kline: thank you, mr. speaker. i certainly appreciate the gentleman from massachusetts' passion on this issue. we have shown in this house again and again -- the speaker pro tempore: the house is not in order. the house is not in order. would you take your conversations off the floor, lease. the gentleman will continue. mr. kline: thank you, mr. speaker. we have shown this house again and again that we are willing and able and have taken steps to help students pay for their loans, but more importantly, we did that in a bipartisan way, my colleagues may remember, last year when we all agreed it wasn't fair, wasn't right to double rates students were already struggling to afford and we had a bipartisan solution to that. to turn that interest rate determination over to the market, which would much more accurately reflect the cost of that money, rather than

politicians sitting around and making decisions. we're taking action right now on the underlying bill to make it less costly for students to go to school and get their education, get their degree, get their certificate by advancing the competency based education bill. we're open to discussing ways to help student borrowers manage the amount of debt they're taking on to finance their college degree but today is not the time, this is not the place to have that discussion. this motion is, as frankly always the says -- the case, a partisan move to have a procedural vote. i urge my colleagues to support the underlying bill and vote no on the motion to recommit and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. without objection, the previous question is ordered. . those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. the question is on