Pale 6 Thursday, October 4, 1984 The Capitol Times
Missing congressmen spell
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CPS)-
College programs may be more
vulnerable than ever to budget
cuts in the next year because
several key congressmen will be
missing from House education
committee, sources say.
The missing congressmen all
played important roles in stav
ing off many of President
Reagan's proposed student aid
cuts in the last three years.
They are leaving their corn
mittees, moreover, as Congress
considers the Higher Education
Reauthorization Act of 1985, a
crucially-important law that
will set federal college policy
for the rest of this decade.
Missing will be Rep. Carl
Perkins (D-Ky), chairman of
the House Education-Labor
Committee, who died this sum
mer, and Rep. Paul Simon (D
-II), chair of the House Subcom
mittee on Postsecondary
Education, who is running for
Senate against Charles Percy.
Two other House education
committee members are retiring
this year
"Perkins was probably the
person most responsible for
holding the line against budget
cuts Reagan has proposed since
1980," says Dallas Martin,
head of the National Associa
tion of Student Financial Aid
Administrators.
"It was clearly his strong
leadership on that committee
that refused to go along with
some of the (cuts). It will take
another individual a long, long
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edition last Wednesday at a reception in the Gallery Lounge.
time to live up to Carl Perkins'
standards," Martin says.
Simon, as subcommittee
chairman, opposed making
students pass a "needs test" to
get loans, and helped mobilize
the impressive nationwide lob
bying efforts that turned the
tide against the student aid cuts
in 1982.
The education committees
are also losing representatives
Ray Kogovsek (D-Co) and
Frank Harrison (D-Pa).
Kogovsek is retiring, and Har
rison lost a primary race earlier
this year.
While departures are "not
eoing to be positive, there will
be no less commitment on the
parts of the remaining
members," counsels William
Blakey, the subcommittee's
staff director.
Commitment or not, some
congressional sources say the
losses will make education a
relatively easy target for budget
cuts next January when the new
Congress tries to slash the $175
billion federal deficit.
"Higher education programs
are going to have to reauthoriz
ed in a year when programs are
probably going to be cut in
order to deal with the huge
deficit," observes Polly Gault,
staff director of the Senate
Education Subcommittee,
which will lose Sen. Jennings
Randolph (D-Va) to retirement.
"Reauthorization will be a
bit more difficult than in
Photo by Tory Perry
1980," the last time Congress
set long-term education goals,
Gault adds.
It will be more difficult, too,
because of the relative inex
perience of the people replacing
Perkins and Simon in the
House.
The most experienced con
tender to replace Simon is Rep.
William Ford (D-Mi), who once
chaired the Postsecondary
Education Subcommittee but
who faces opposition from
Rep. Ike Andrews (D-NC) in
his effort to regain the post.
Ford sheparded the 1980
reauthorization act through the
House, but gave up his educa
tion position to become head of
the Post Office and Civil Ser
vice Subcommittee in 1981.
Ford may want the education
subcommittee chairmanship
back to get in line for a bigger
position. "He wants to chair
(the whole) Education-Labor
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possible doom
(committee)," says Kathy Ozer,
lobbyist for the U.S. Student
Association (USSA).
House rules, however, pro
hibit members from chairing
two subcommittees at the same
time.
Ford is optimistic he'll be ex
empted from the rule, says Tom
Wolamin, Ford's staff aide.
But Alan From, staff direc
tor of the Democratic Caucus,
notes "Ford isn't the only per
son who would like to have the
rules changed for his own
benefit. There are probably
younger members who would
like to get a chance to run a
subcommittee."
Wolamin says Ford is willing
to give up his chairmanship of
another subcommittee to get
postsecondary education post.
"I would be very surprised if
they allow him to take the sub
committee over because I think
it would anger some of the
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younger members who don't
have a chairmanship of
anything," says Rose Dinapoli,
a Republican legislative
associate on the subcommittee.
"It's a very powerful subcom
mittee."
In the meantime, the House
last week appointed Rep. Gus
Hawkins (D-Ca) to take over
the full Education-Labor
Committee.
Hawkins, who is best known
as an expert in labor legislation,
has an "outstanding record"
on education issues like student
aid, Martin asserts.
On the Senate side, the
Senate Education Subcommit
tee will remain under senators
Claiborne Pell (D-RI) and
Robert Stafford (R-Vt).
Only one senator on the
Senate education committee,
Pell, is up for reelection, and he
is expected to win an easy
victory.
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