Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993 TAG: 9304270020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
President Clinton's proposal for creating summer jobs for youth and energizing the economy was killed last week by a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The measure contained $2.2 billion to clear a Pell Grant deficit that Clinton inherited.
The government spends $6 billion a year on the program, named for Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., and which provides grants ranging from $200 to $2,300 a year to low- and middle-income college undergraduates, based on need. A maximum of $3,700 is authorized by law, but the budget shortfall has forced the lower ceiling - and without new money it may have to be reduced to as little as $1,800, college officials fear.
"If we don't get this money, the Pell grant system is under a very heavy strain," Education Secretary Richard Riley said.
Riley said it was "fiscally irresponsible" for Republicans to kill the proposal.
The deficit was amassed over several years, as payments to 4.5 million students outpaced funding. The Bush administration covered shortfalls by borrowing from the next year's appropriation, eventually building up the $2.2 billion deficit.
A spokesman for Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont, the ranking Republican on the Senate education subcommittee, said the shortfall must be cleared, but there is no urgency to do so.
"It's a priority, but is it a priority that needs to get done before this summer? Probably not," said Erik Smulson.
"The problem that a lot of Republicans, especially Sen. Jeffords, had was it wasn't being paid for," Smulson said, noting that under Clinton's plan, the cost would have been added to the overall federal budget deficit.
by CNB