weekend. have a great week ahead. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] >> next on c-span, "newsmakers" with virginia foxx. that is followed by the women's march held yesterday in washington, d.c. then, debate on the house floor of the government shutdown down. the house returns for more work on reopening the federal government. "newsmakers"st on

is representative virginia foxx, republican of north carolina. "newsmakers"a chair of educatid workforce committee. soon scheduled for floor action. thank you for being our guest. let me introduced the two reporters who will ask questions. both of them cover education beats for -- michelle of the wall street journal and michael of jalisco. started, we are taking this on thursday, yesterday, betsy devos gave a well covered speech where she was highly critical of the bush and obama hynde,, no child left he and essentially said it had no tangible results and is seen as the death knell of -- with in the education departments. is your critique of the legislation as strong as hers?

no tangible results? foxx: no child left behind had great motivation behind it. the title, make sure every child as long and as good of an education as you could possibly give him or her. but in the input phase by the bureaucrats, they put students and did anells enormous amount of testing. example of good micromanaging at the federal level going wrong. it is just not good for the federal government to try to run education policy with the diverse country we have a member

and i would sometimes ask, why are we doing this? and then say because washington said for us to do it. it made no sense and yet, our administrators would try their best to do what they were told to do. education is best left to the states and localities. people in states and localities know how to provide good education and the history of our country shows that. host: we turn it over to michael for first questions. month, yourt committee passed the prosper at, the reauthorization of the higher education act, a competence of rewrite of the law in nearly a decade. before we dive into the

substance of it, can you talk about the process, when should we see it on the house for -- house floor, and do we see commitment from leadership on when we would vote on it? rep. foxx: i believe it is the first reform for secondary education since the federal government got involved pyramid is true reform. yes, we have dark with the leadership and we have begun due diligence preparing to bring the bill to the floor. we have not talked about a specific date with the majority leader's office. we know it we have to do. a lot of work goes on between the time a bill passes the committee and the time it is on the floor. need to be talking to a lot of groups of people within our conference. i had begun doing that.

to there is a lot of work do. we want to bring it up as soon as we possibly can. onknow we will be working job opportunity reform through welfare reform, and the two will often go together. i am anxious and the members of committee are anxious, because they worked very hard on the legislation. this is really a committee product. everyone of the committee what he-- staff asked or she would like to see in the bill. i am the chair of the committee in my name is first. it is truly a committee product. >> i want to ask you about --

you frequently talk about the two-year and four-year institutions do not always best repair students for the workforce. how does your bill address the gap and give us specific examples. question. a great i feel keenly our secondary whattion have not done they should to help students be prepared for the workforce. jobs in themillion country unfilled right now. ask groups of people and individuals why did you get a you go toy did school? everybody invariably answers -- to get a job.

something is wrong with all the money we put into our education in the country, we now have over 6 million jobs unfilled and yet people are graduating from high school, from community college is, from college, although too many are dropping out, frankly, and the jobs are not filled. what we are attempting to do and we do well at it, is we are encouraging innovation, and we are pushing schools to look at outcomes. we asking creditors to look at outcomes. we asking and demanding more transparency on the part of colleges and universities, saying we want students to know what their chances are of

finishing their major number one, number two, getting a job likelymajor, likely -- what their salary would be in a first position in the major. and parents tos get a lot more information. i am a huge believer in early college programs. when i was at the state university in the 1970's, appalachia was offering courses , high schoolls teachers, and students were graduating from high school with 30 hours of credit that they could transfer anywhere. i am also a firm believer in students getting as much as -- as their work from community college before they attempt to go to the program. you will see me avoid using

four-year degree programs because they are not four-year degree programs anymore. they are six-year degree programs. every school is measuring them in that terminology. i try to stop using the year terminology and talk about high school community college, degrees. we are encouraging credentials, we are saying we would like to andthem more innovation, frankly, there is a lot going on i have found in the course of working on the bill, where students in high school are getting college credit and they are then going on getting certificates and diplomas and degrees which normally do not transfer, but they are transferring. we are encouraging all of those arrangements through the bill. michael: you mentioned student

outcomes. as you know, one of the criticisms of the bill, including from some in your own conference on the republican side, is that it does not go far enough allowing the federal government to measure and theulate actual outcomes of colleges in -- and universities because it does not repeal a federal prohibition on the student unit record system which would allow the education department to better track across institutions and across states the performance of colleges. author the original band which prohibits that data collection. are there alternatives you are open to as the bill moves forward that would give the education department the ability ?o better track those

rep. foxx: we have put into the bill a study. i have listened to the members. while a couple of them had repealingwith me on the ban, they agreed with me we probably were not ready to do that because a lot of work have to be done. we have in the bill a study to look at this and see, is there a way to gather additional information not in the hands of the federal government, and not identifiable to a particular student. that is the concern of most of. i am very concerned about protecting people's privacy. craig --ou all are quite aware of the attitude not

just in congress but in the country related to the government capturing information on individual americans. wouldoposal being offered have captured information, personal information, on all students and college not just financial aid. i thought that was an overreach. i'm very serious about this study. . would like see it done if there is a mechanism for doing this, we will look at that. i think the members of the committee on the other side of the aisle are satisfied with that. that i will word promote the study. it is not a study that will go nowhere or takes 20 years.

i think it can be done in a shorter time. that study shows more collection of data on individual student level is necessary, would you be willing to make that reform? rep. foxx: let's see what the study does say. yet thatconvinced there can be a collection of from the separate ability to identify with a particular person. concerns,of my main that you not take this personal data and connect it to the individual and that is in the hands of the federal government. we have seen too many data breaches in the federal government for me to feel comfortable particularly now. but i'm willing to look at it. michelle: i want to ask you

about another large aspect of your -- i know you're and the senate create avision is to unified student loan program, a unified grant program, and you , but alsocriticized your critics would say it eight, hownumber would you address that criticism? rep. foxx: we don't eliminate any funding. we have done no cuts in funding for financial aid for the bill. the fafsa is , thesible to deal with loan programs are very confusing, too many grant so we arevery using,

again responding to the public and our members. we have members who have children who have gone to college in recent times. they have dealt with these issues. i have a grandson who is a junior in college. i have listened to his mother complain about filling out the fafsa for him and about the intricacies of financial aid. our goal is to help students to look for ways to the able to complete a college education with a minimum of hassle, but securely as it relates to financial aid. graduated from college without any debt and all people say that it was so long ago that it is not possible. but it is possible. i think with the right kinds of transparency, with continuing

financial aid that we currently have, helping students be better -- better consumers, that we will see a reduction in the borrowingstudents money, and better health coming from colleges and universities. article with the president of the university of kentucky. concern aboutht retention, losing a lot of students at the end of the freshman year. they looked at the students dropping out, and a lot of students were be students. students. they needed $6,000 more in financial aid in order to continue in the sophomore year. they set up quickly a program where they could get institutional aid to those

students because they knew the students were worthwhile continuing, they were b students. those schools can do those kinds of things internally and they are. many years ago, they started doing freshman seminars to try to help students dropping out at the end of freshman year because they felt alienated. a lot of this is up to individual schools. when they admit a student and they are there for a year, they invest a lot in the student. the students invest a lot in the institution. the institutions have a responsibility to find out why the students aren't continuing a lot of the time. i would like to see institutions stepping up to help students. ien i was a faculty member, have said this to other faculty, we make a commitment to the

students when we admit them to help them be successful. we need to look for ways to make that happen. michael: another thing your legislation would do was and the federal program that canceled the federalrs student loans of students who worked in nonprofit or other public service jobs. this was a time with president george w. bush and some type -- bipartisan support, what is the rationale for ending the program? rep. foxx: once again, it is the federal government picking winners and losers. done thates have an show many of the public service jobs people go into and having paid asans forgiven for well or better than private sector jobs.

if one went into a public-sector job, one was getting one's loans paid. in a private sector job, you did not have that. we think all students should be treated the same peer we think fairness is the issue. hope is we bring down the cost of the federal government cannot bring down the cost to directly. the federal government can make things easier for students and colleges and universities. hopefully that will mean students will not have to borrow as much money. students will be treated the same in the bill. that is what our country is founded on, treating people the same. i wanted to ask you a broader question about the current state of higher education. you and some republican colleagues have said you feel

like institutions are increasingly failing students and that public opinion has started to turn against them. people have pointed to tax legislation that you just past. there was going to be a tax on graduate students, and the aid that they received. those you feel like institutions of higher education can interest the lacking public support that they have? rep. foxx: well, much of it will be a touch -- up to them and tobably, somewhat related the students they are serving, the community they are in. i know when i was the community college president, i told faculty our middle name is community. that is what we are here for, to serve our community. i went out to the community and

asked what is it you need us to do? i talked to the business community and that was 18 years old when i went there and they said your the first person who has ever been here who asked us what we need. that is unacceptable. college and universities are there to serve the communities of their state. some do it very well. of it will be up to the areas they serve. i talked to the president of the school recently where the faculty totally changed the because enrollment was going way down. they saw that and said we have got to make radical changes to survive. i don't think it is up to the federal government to tell the schools how to operate. they need to find which niche is good for them and meet the needs of their communities. day that fewerr

foreign students are coming to the united states to go to school. we have a demographic tip right now in terms of what the birth rate was 18 years ago. colleges and universities haven't in the past, had to respond to those kinds of pressures. -- business and industry does do that. unfortunately, i do not think colleges and universities have thatquick enough to see they are out of touch in many cases. there was a big article in one of your publications, i do not saidber which, that college presidents were stunned when they read these surveys that said they are no longer relevant. that.ing is wrong with what a college president says they are so out of touch, they do not know what the public is thinking. host: three minutes left.

michael: going back to legislation, the senate moving forward with its own separate track for rewriting the higher education law. how are you working with colleagues and senate in this, i one support by republicans, they're interested in doing a bipartisan bill, which would have to look somewhat different than your legislation. where it easy the biggest flashpoints between what you are pushing and the bipartisan bill in the senate? i talked to lamarr on a regular basis and he was excited and said i cannot wait for you to get it passed that in us.house and get it over to they have been focused on health and have much larger assignments

of health legislation in the committee. i do not know for sure that lamarr would he able to put together a post secondary bill or reauthorization, the higher ed will. my emphasis is on getting our bill out of the house and to the senate here then it will work much more closely on what will be possible. we passed the schools act, which rewrote workforce development legislation, set in the senate for 14 months, and the senate was not able to write its own legislation so they took up the skills that changed its title. we got much of what we wanted out of the bill. i'm a realist and i understand how the senate works. i understand they have to go to a much bipartisan -- a more bipartisan way in almost all cases. wehink it is important

passed a bill out of the house and get it to the senate. i heard you just say that you are not sure whether chairman alexander will be able to write the bill this year. what you think the chances are that you will successfully reauthorization -- reauthorize the higher education act this year? rep. foxx: i am very optimistic. as i talked to members of the house, i feel very positive. employers i have .oming into my office every day every member of congress is getting the same message i have asked. with public needs to do to congress is what it needs to do with its own educational institutions, demand changes that would give to them the workforce that they need.

you know what will happen? if we don't do it, and secondary education doesn't do it, they will do it themselves. withinll create programs the workforce where they will workers theykilled need to my message to higher education is you better pay ,ttention to what is being said and my message to other members of congress is we have a need out there and that is why you have a government, to help meet the need. host: thank you very much for being our guest. rep. foxx: thank you for having me. you have a great panel. "newsmakers" is back after our interview with the chair of the educational workforce committee, virginia foxx of north carolina. michelle hackman of wall street journal and michael stratford of politico.

promoting real opportunity and success for education reform. michael stratford, eu pointed out it did not pass with democrats support p or what are the legislation has crafted? michael: democrats argued the bill would take away a lot of for federal money flowing into colleges and universities, particularly for profit colleges. the bill would wipe out much of the obama era restrictions and regulations on for-profit schools and efforts to curb abuses in the industry. that is a major objective they have. they also argue the bill does not go far enough of -- college before -- addressing college affordability and student aid is a good idea but in practice, that in some cases might harm theents in the reduction of

amount of money they have available to go to college. host: the legislation is 52 years old well before the digital age came to universities and college tuition's came up so high. what about on the senate side, you mentioned it is a bipartisan effort. is there any valving view that you know of in the chair's committee about what needs to be done to a dress college education in our current society? i think the current legislation written by virginia foxx does -- the chairman of the committee is in favorite of the idea of streamlining federal loan programs and federal grant programs, and simplifying. he has a shtick where he waits around the fafsa. as ae treating the bill republican wish list of ideas but senator alexander will have to work with the top democrat on

his committee, patty murray, to write a bill that could attract democratic votes. it will ultimately need 60 votes to pass the senate. other component is the trump administration. are there signals about what they will support? michael: the white house released a one pager on its principles when past republicans released the bill last month. it is largely in line with what the house republicans are doing. betsy devos has not been particularly vocal on higher education issues. she is focused mostly on k-12 education which is where her experience is. we have not heard very clearly from a trump administration since they have an office what they want to see in a higher education. aboutate trump talks

relieving the burden of student debt on the campaign trail and also talks about going after , endowments, what colleges received from the federal government, to them working on ways to reduce college education that we have not seen a piece of legislation they have specifically backed. these indid not get to our questions, but the bill also has a number of social components. tell us about the highlights. >> it is interesting. the committee has included pieces that would address hot would try to and curb campuses from trying to restrict free speech. it would ask them to offer sexual-harassment training on

offices. we have seen a lot about that. those are the sorts of things we suspect that patty murray would not really stand for in her legislation. host: there is also drug and alcohol training required with opioids. wrappingsual to be social programs into education? michelle: it is. generally, republicans in congress like to remove the federal government's confluence as much as possible in education. actually dictating to colleges how to handle these hot button issues. michael, your last word. i think it will be a tough climb to get higher education act bill cleared in ather chamber through

conference report. senate may not produce a bill that is actually bipartisan. is some concern, the ability that it would get democratic support in the senate will be tough given the opening from house republicans. host: we're almost out of time. michelle: it is a real question whether the committee in the senate can break away from health-care long enough to write a bill. host: thanks to both of you for your questions. we appreciate your time. michael: thank you. forongress returns today their second day of work to reopen the federal government. the house meets at 2:00 eastern and the senate returns at 1:00.

announced shortly after midnight eastern time on a new temporary sunday measure. follow live gavel to gavel coverage of the house on c-span and the senate on c-span two. we are streaming live online at c-span.org and on the c-span radio app. >> c-span's's washington journal is live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. robert weissman will join us to talk about the report on the trump organization business conflicts of issued -- of interest. the u.s. attorneys founder and president will be on and he will talk about changes to criminal justice policy under jeff sessions. world magazine correspondent kim henderson will discuss white fundingforts to reduce to the nutritional program also known as snap. the sure to watch washington

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