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House Passes Massive Boost to Student Financial Aid
On July 11th, the House of Representatives passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007—a major expansion of federal financial aid that will advance educational opportunities for thousands of low-income women and other students across the United States. Click here to see how your representative voted.

The College Cost Reduction Act would substantially increase student financial aid and pay for it by cutting subsidies paid to lenders in the student loan industry. It would provide a historic boost to the Pell Grant program by increasing the maximum individual Pell Grant from $4,310 to $5,200 over the next five years. The bill would also:

• Cut interest rates on federally subsidized student loans in half—from 6.8% to 3.4% by the 2012-2013 school year.
• Guarantee that borrowers will not have to pay more than 15% of their discretionary income in student loan payments.
• Increase the yearly and total limits on how much individual students can borrow from federal student loan programs.

The bill also aims to make college tuition more affordable by limiting what colleges and universities charge to students.

What's next? To become law, the College Cost Reduction Act must be passed by the Senate and signed by the President—who has already threatened to veto the bill. Women Work! will continue to follow movement on this issue closely and let you know if action is needed to assure the passage of this critical legislation for women in economic transition.

Good and Bad News as Labor-HHS-Education Funding Bill Heads to House Floor
The annual Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, approved unanimously by the full Appropriations committee on July 11th, could be headed to the House floor as early as Wednesday this week. The bill contains several critical differences from the bill approved by the subcommittee in June —good news and bad news for education and training programs that help unemployed and underemployed women:

The Good News: Career and Technical Education Funding Up
Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee David Obey (D-WI) and Congressman John Peterson (R-PA) agreed on a compromise amendment to the bill that would provide an increase of $25 million for career and technical education Basic State Grants. Previously, the subcommittee had frozen funding for career and technical education at last year's level.

The Bad News: Job Training Funding Down
The Committee unanimously approved an amendment to “rescind,” or take back, over $335 million in previous years' Workforce Investment Act funds from States. The Bush Administration requested this move, asserting that States are sitting on millions of dollars of unspent job training funds. The $335 million would be shifted to education programs for students with disabilities.

What's Next: Although the full House is likely to pass the Labor-HHS-Education bill this week, decisions about funding for education and training programs are far from complete. This is especially the case because the Senate's version of the bill addresses funding for these programs differently; the Senate bill freezes funding for career and technical education and for job training. (At some point, a joint House-Senate conference committee will meet to work out differences between the bills).

Stay tuned to the Insider and to Action Works! alerts to find out how you can help make sure that the final FY2008 Labor-HHS-Education bill provides adequate funding for education and training programs.

Paycheck Fairness Bill Gaining Momentum in House
For the first time since it was originally introduced ten years ago, the Paycheck Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), is gaining traction in the House of Representatives.

Last week the number of co-sponsors on the bill topped 224—a handful more than the number of “yes” votes needed to secure a victory on the House floor. (To see if your Representative is a co-sponsor, click here.) Also, last Wednesday the Education and Labor Committee held its second hearing on the bill. Sources say the Committee may be likely to vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act soon.

The passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act would help to reduce the wage gap and mark a tremendous victory for working women across the country. Among other things, the Paycheck Fairness Act would:

• Deter employers from committing wage discrimination by allowing women to recover compensatory and punitive damages—not just back-pay.
• Prohibit employers from punishing employees for sharing salary information with their co-workers.
• Require the Equal Employment Commission to collect data from employers on how much men and women are paid.

During our annual Advocacy Day in April, Women Work! members joined Congresswoman DeLauro and Sen. Hillary Clinton (who is sponsoring an identical bill in the Senate) to rally on Capitol Hill in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Women Work! members also urged their Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor this important legislation during Advocacy Day Hill Visits. Click here to see pictures from Women Work!'s 2007 Advocacy Day.

Governors Urge Congress to Revise New Welfare Rules
The National Governors Association is urging Congress to pass legislation to restore State flexibility under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee on June 26th, the Governors asked for Congress', “help in restoring some common sense aspects of this critical program.”

Congress reauthorized the TANF program last year and during the summer of 2006 the Department of Health and Human Services released regulations making additional changes.

The new rules limit States in engaging welfare participants in activities such as education, English as a Second Language classes, mental health services and substance abuse treatment. Further, study toward a four-year college degree cannot be counted as work, even though it is a proven route to economic self-sufficiency for women and families. The rules also increase requirements for monitoring and verifying participation in work activities.

The Governors' letter asks that Congress restore States flexibility for providing rehabilitative and supportive services—such as domestic violence services. It also asks that Congress delay the compliance date for the new law, currently set for September 2007, for one year.

Click here to read the letter.