NASFAA asks that all members contact their representatives and senators by no later than noon on Wednesday and urge them to vote for the Conference Report on the FY 2008 appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The bill would increase the maximum Pell Grant for award year 2008-09 to $4,925, a $615 increase over the current $4,310 award.

President Bush has threatened to veto this bill. If not reversed by Congress, then the veto will likely result in a Pell Grant maximum award considerably below $4,925. We are asking you to contact your federal legislators so that the support for the appropriations bill in Congress is so overwhelming that it is clear a veto will be overridden. This could persuade the president not to veto the bill. Congress can only override a president's veto if two-thirds of the members in both the Senate and House vote to override it.

On Thursday, House and Senate negotiators completed work on the Conference Report for the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education 2008 spending bill. The conferees negotiated differences between the House and Senate FY 2008 Appropriations bills. In a major victory for Pell Grant recipients, the conferees decided to provide enough funding to increase the maximum award to $4,925 when the bill is combined with the automatic add-on provided in the recently-approved Reconciliation bill.

How The New Funding System Works

Since the beginning of the Pell Grant Program in 1972, the maximum award was determined by the total dollars appropriated by Congress. For example, Congress provided a total of $15.5 billion in FY 2007 which allowed the maximum award to be set at $4,310.

This year Congress changed how the Pell Grant maximum award is determined in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA), H.R. 2669, which was signed into law in September. Under the new law, Pell Grant Program funding is a hybrid combination of appropriated monies with an entitlement, mandatory spending add-on.

Under the CCRAA, determining the Pell Grant maximum award is a two step process. First, Congress must provide enough funding through a spending bill to fund a "base" amount of dollars which is translated into a maximum award. The second step is an automatic add-on of a specified maximum award amount funded through entitlement, mandatory spending as provided by CCRAA.

The Conference bill for FY 2008 education appropriations bill provides enough funding for a base Pell Grant maximum award of $4,435. Then, there is an automatic add-on to the maximum award of $490. Consequently, the Pell Grant maximum award for FY 2008 (award year 2008-2009) would be $4,435 (coming from the base amount from this appropriations bill) plus $490 (coming from the mandatory spending add-on) equaling a total of $4,925. This is $615 increase over the current maximum award.

NASFAA thanks all members who contacted your Senators urging them to vote this FY 2008 spending bill when it was considered last month; your efforts made a difference with 79-15 favorable vote which is more than enough to override a veto in that body. Unlike the Senate, the House was not able to pass the bill with a two-thirds majority when its version of the appropriations bill was passed in July, but the vote then showed that body was within striking distance of finding enough votes to override.

Please contact your Members of Congress no later than Wednesday noon next week. Your phone calls, emails, or faxes urging your House member and Senators to vote for this Conference Report is important and will help make a difference in the outcome. Here you can find a list of House members by state just click on your state. Here you can find Senators listed by state. In each case click on the Member of Congress you wish to contact and contact information (email address, phone number, and, usually, fax information) can be found on their Web sites.

The Next Steps

Negotiators in the House and Senate have combined the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill with the 2008 Military Construction and Veterans Affair spending bill (HR 2642). Congress must approve the spending bill package clearing it for the President to consider it.

President Bush has threatened to veto the education spending bill, but has said he would sign the veterans' spending bill. Conference committee members combined the bills in hopes that the President will relent on his veto threat in order to get the veterans' bill signed into law.

However, Republican lawmakers say they will try to separate the two bills when Congress considers the Conference Report with the two spending bills.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) has said he would prefer to submit spending bills separately, but was forced to combine bills because the Administration has refused to compromise on the spending level in the education spending bill.

Obey issued highlights from the Conference Report showing a $150.7 billion Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, $6.2 billion above 2007 spending levels and $9.8 billion above the President's budget request. The bill provides $60.7 billion for education programs, $4.5 billion above the President's budget request.

One primary reason the bill is higher than the president's request is that the Administration proposed numerous budget cuts and program eliminations that were rejected by the Congress in this Conference Report and the monies the president wanted to eliminate were, by and large, restored by the Congress.

For example, President Bush recommended eliminating the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) Program ($770.9 million restored by the Congress). President Bush recommended eliminating the Perkins Loan cancellation which reimburses schools for borrowers who have their Perkins Loans forgiven ($64.47 million restored by the Congress). President Bush recommended eliminating the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships (LEAP) Program ($64.99 million restored by the Congress).

Please contact NASFAA Director for Congressional Relations Larry Zaglaniczny for any assistance he can provide to ease your efforts to contact federal legislators.

Media Coverage

• Congressional Leaders Unveil Compromise Bill to Finance Student Aid, NIH (The Chronicle of Higher Education) A paid subscription may be required.

• The Possible New Pell Grant: $4,925 (Inside Higher Ed)