we must fix the fafsa now. i see the consequences of not having a simplified analysis to propel in my roll the trustee of one of her nation's hispanic institutions metro state university denver. we are the opportunity generator in colorado. one third of all full-time students qualify for the maximum pell grant. the hard work of racial justice on their campus needs a simplified formula and for denver's 130,000 unemployed msu denver can partner with our state unemployment insurance program to reach these adults that need re-scaling and upscaling. as for students coalescing round of the changes the fafsa simplification. as i fleischer their city for higher education policy i joined the voices of nearly 40 national-based justice reform business correction and business organizations calling for removal of question 23 prohibiting students from prior drug offenses from getting a. exit before you and remind you of the -- a former department of education adviser. one who knows that delaying now the simplification act is

fafsa filers. simplification matters. the december passage of the future act will reduce up to 22 questions on the fafsa by allowing for data sharing between the u.s. department of education and the internal revenue service. while we celebrate the passage of this legislation, it's important to note that it faces a more complicated than anticipated road to implementation which is not expected until the $2324 fafsa. we're at point to think about what's left to fix the fafsa. three key steps remaining. remove unnecessary questions, simply fi the pell grant eligibility formula, for students receiving means tested benefits and streamline verification. expand on these in my written testimony and would be happy to discuss more in the question and answer period. first, we have long advocated to remove unnecessary questions. 25% of the questions on today's fafsa are answered by less than 1% of applicants. in our 2017 research, half the fafsa, we developed a user tested streamlined fafsa with fewer questions

this is the fafsa. this is 108 questions that in the middle of the pandemic, 20 million families are expected to fill out in order to get their free education in tennessee for two years or any pell grant or any student loan. 20 million families filling it out every year and what our witnesses have told us is that there are 53 questions on that list that we don't need. and really not any disagreement about that. i guess there's someone somewhere who disagrees about that, but i haven't met them. i rarely have any issue about which there's much more compelling agreement than this. so this would be the new fa fsa minus 53 questions that our witnesses say is unnecessary. now let me talk about a technical matter, the law senator murray and i introduced last year that took the 22 questions one click, the student and fam can ask the irs that question for them. that's a big step forward. the 53 are in addition to that. but it will take a while to implement the law we pass aed last year, we're told it may be the

fast democrat doug jones as working across party lines with alexander on legislation to shorten the fafsa form their bill would also streamline the verification process preventing families from long delays that can cut off aid. >>we should not need to subject so many families to verification. a roadblock for needy students and frankly, a burden for schools as well. >>the university of north carolina at chapel hill and columbia universities support the legislation passes and locations still matters because college access still matters perhaps now more so than ever while some schools worry eliminating certain questions will make it harder to determine eligibility. alexander in jones are pushing to get their reforms passed by the end of the year. in washington, i'm jessi turnure. >>still ahead on the kron 4 morning news restaurants across the country are calling on congress to pass a bill tailored specifically to help their industry that story coming up in just a bit outside we have a little bit of fog this morning. but it's not so bad the air quality is improving the weekend is looking pret

>>it's time to finish the fafsa republican lamar alexander, a former university president an education secretary says the pandemic has completely changed the college experience except for one thing students still have to answer a 108 questions on the dreaded fafsa form that form is the key to receiving federal financial aid alexander says the complicated application keeps millions from getting the help they qualify for and thanks the pandemic is only making things worse many students are questioning their investment and a college education at a time when many classes are only offering online courses there are so many kids that just walk from the fast democrat doug jones as working across party lines with alexander on legislation to shorten the fafsa form mayor bill would also streamline the verification process preventing families from long delays that can cut off aid we should not need to subject so many families to verification. >>a roadblock for needy students and frankly, a burden for schools as well. >>the university of north carolina at chapel hill and columbia universities suppo

>>if you know someone who's been in college you probably know what fafsa is tonight at the break why some lawmak >>every year some 20 million american families fill out the free application for federal student aid or fafsa but members of congress say even though the form is key to receiving financial aid. many families simply give up because the form is so complicated a bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to change the application to make college more accessible. >>they argue that in light of the pandemic federal financing and that aid is more important now than ever. >>many students are questioning their investment and a college education at a time when many classes are only offering online courses should not need to subject so many families to verification a roadblock for needy students and frankly, a burden for schools as well. >>the bill would streamline the verification process preventing families from experiencing long delays in filling out the form it would also allow students as early as 8th great to see how much finding the funding they might be eligible for. >>still to

fast democrat doug jones as working across party lines with alexander on legislation to shorten the fafsa form mayor bill would also streamline the verification process preventing families from long delays that can cut off aid. >>we should not need to subject so many families to verification. a roadblock for needy students and frankly, a burden for schools as well. >>the university of north carolina at chapel hill and columbia universities support the legislation passes and locations still matters because college access still matters perhaps now more so than ever while some schools worry eliminating certain questions will make it harder to determine eligibility. alexander in jones are pushing to get their reforms passed by the end of the year. in washington, i'm jessi turnure. >>9.42 is the time taking a live look here at the embarcadero and the bay bridge in the distance and seeing all that sunshine is going to be so nice today get out there and enjoy it. no >>as people flee their homes in the path of wildfires all a lot of people have been especially worried about their animals that the

libya's national oil corporation says it's restarting some production and exports the libyan warlord he fafsa had imposed a blockade on oil facilities january but in an instant about on friday. a prominent critic of the chinese president xi jinping has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for corruption and junk in the former chairman of the state's real estate group a draft bill that would amend the sri lankan constitution to give the president more powers has been put before parliament if it's passed it will allow mr rajapaksa to dissolve parliament and give him full immunity against prosecution. by the recent russia started joint military drills on belorussians soil around a 1000 russian soldiers are there moscow's backing president bush is facing mass protests against his rule the u.k. government's advising people to work from home as coronavirus cases by the prime minister boris johnson is holding an emergency cabinet meeting a meeting of the cobra committees they will address the house of commons later those are your top stories up next it's the stream i will have more news on this chan

now starting tomorrow, college prospects and their families can fill out the fafsa.the free application for federal student aid. although in recent years, applications for support have been declining, this year financial fallout from the pandemic is expected to lead to a surge in need. now a recent poll by discover loans 44% of parents surveyed say they cannot pay so much for their child's education as planned. >> all right, diane king hall of cbsmoneywatch.com. thank you. >>> i'm anne makovec at the live news desk. and we are keeping our eye on a do or die die in bay area sports today. the oakland athletics are hosting the chicago white sox at the coliseum and this part of a wild card series. this is game two and it is the best of three. so chicago won the first one so we'll sew how the a's do. first pitch 12:10 this afternoon. back to you len. >>> and anne, thank you. new this morning, serena williams has ended her latest bid for a 24th grand slam title. the tennis star withdrew from the french open before her second round match because of an injured achilles heel.

which is simplifying fafsa. the federal aid application form that 20 million families fill out every year. we made progress on that in the obama administration. we made progress in the trump administration. introducedray and i and congress passed a bill making important steps earlier, i guess earlier this year when recently, when we permanently funded historically black colleges. we would like to finish the job and we will have a hearing on that next thursday with the same four witnesses. thank you for being here today. the committee will stand adjourned. journal,'s washington every day. we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of today and discussing policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, we will talk about the approval process for potential covid-19 vaccines with georgetown university medical center's dr. jesse goodman, former chief scientist at the fda. and the discussion of the international effort to develop a covid-19 vaccine with dr. william moss, executive director of john hop

that this committee has been working on in a bipartisan way for six years, which is simplifying the fafsa, the federal-aid application form of 20 million families fill out every year. we've made progress on that in the obama administration, we made progress in the trump administration. senator murray and i introduced and congress passed a bill making important steps earlier recently when we properly funded historically black colleges, but we would like to finish the job and we will have a hearing on that next thursday with the same four who got uslus one involved in it in the first place six years ago. thank you for being here today, the committee will stand adjourned. >> both chambers returned to congress next week. billsate on several scheduled for six clock p.m. eastern. a resolution condemning anti-asian bias following the coronavirus pandemic. ater this month, measures that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. follow the house live on c-span. to spend itsans week voting on judicial nominations, mostly in california and illinois. later, senators will need to negotiate w

that this committee has been working on in a bipartisan way for six years, which is simplifying the fafsa, the federal-aid application form of 20 million families fill out every year. we've made progress on that in the obama administration, we made progress in the trump administration. senator murray and i introduced and congress passed a bill making important steps earlier recently when we properly funded historically black colleges, but we would like to finish the job and we will have a hearing on that next thursday with the same four who got uslus one involved in it in the first place six years ago. thank you for being here today, the committee will stand adjourned. announcer: aside from covid-19 vaccine developments, congress is also dealing with the economic follow-up from the pandemic. the senate plans to vote tomorrow on what is being called a skinny coronavirus relief package. on c-span2, senators have a talking about their initial response to the latest public and plan. here is a look at what is in it. host: joining us to help set up the conversation of the senate's current actio

. >>> the senate education hearing on the student aid application fafsa, free application for federaltudent aid. senator lamar alexander chairs the hearing.

that this committee has been working on in a bipartisan way for six years, which is simplifying the fafsathe federal-aid application form of 20 million families fill out every year. we've made progress on that in the obama administration, we made progress in the trump administration. senator murray and i introduced and congress passed a bill making important steps earlier recently when we properly funded historically black colleges, but we would like to finish the job and we will have a hearing on that next thursday with the same four who got uslus one involved in it in the first place six years ago. thank you for being here today, the committee will stand adjourned. >> c-span's washington journal, every day, we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discussing policy issues that impact you. talkg up thursday morning, about the approval process for solutions.ovid-19 of theiscussion international effort to develop a covid-19 vaccine with dr. william moss, executive director of johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health international vaccine center. watch c-sp

into a 33-question fafsa. let's allow that to be implemented by the federal government the same time last year's law is implemented, and let's make it simpler and easier for deserving americans to go to college. there are lots of other things we need to do about higher education. we need more accountability. we need to deal with student loans. many things we need to do. we've had a lot of discussions on though. we're not going to get agreement on that this year. just as we were able to do the historically black colleges this year and the first step on the fafsa, i think it would be wise to finish the job. i was very pleased with our hearing. i'm grateful to senator murray for her kind comments this morning that she made and for her friendship and her willingness to work with me on this. and i would hope that for the benefit of those 20 million families, we'd have some success. i ask consent to include in the record a copy of my opening statement this morning at the hearing. the presiding officer: without objec