Category Archive

After a morning USSA meeting in DC, I spent most of the day driving north on I-95 in a ridiculously blinding rainstorm. Posting will resume tomorrow.

When SAFRA passed the House of Representatives last September, just four Democrats voted “no” — Boyd, Herseth-Sandlin, McMahon, and Kanjorski. With the combined SAFRA/Health Care bill coming down to the wire this evening, let’s take a look at where those four Representatives stand today.

Allen Boyd voted against Health Care Reform last November, but is expected to vote yes today. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin and Michael McMahon voted no in November, and both plan to vote no again.

Which means that only Paul Kanjorski voted no on SAFRA in September and yes on HCR in November. And according to the blog Firedoglake, Kanjorski is still keeping mum about his plans for this evening. According to their reporting, “the Congressman may never announce his vote, just vote on the bill and leave the chamber.”

Private lender Sallie Mae has offices in Kanjorski’s district, and Firedoglake sums up his position this way: “putting the needs of lobbyists over $57 million for students in his district is just … craven.”

It’s now looking like the bill is a pretty safe pass, but I’ll be very curious to see how Kanjorski votes.

The media are buzzing with last-minute news on the fate of President Obama’s healthcare reform plan, which is scheduled to come to a vote in the House of Representatives this afternoon. But it’s also crunch time for SAFRA, the massive financial aid overhaul that’s been bundled with that bill. Here’s what’s going on:

The House’s vote on the SAFRA/HCR package is expected early this evening, after a day of procedural preparations. Most observers expect the margin of that vote to be razor-close, but they expect the bill to pass. This is because the Democratic leadership is believed to have a small reserve of potential “yes” votes available — members of Congress who would take a big political hit for voting in favor, but who would be willing to do so if their “no” votes meant the bill’s failure.

It’s possible that there will be some last-minute jockeying over the language of the House bill, though that prospect is growing increasingly unlikely. SAFRA is almost guaranteed not to be a factor today — student aid reform is quite popular in the House, but it’s a less politically charged issue than HCR, so there’s no mileage to be gained from tinkering with it in either direction.

The SAFRA language that the House will be voting on today was released on Thursday. It’s been scaled-back considerably since the summer — of the original $80 billion in savings in the bill, all of which was touted as going to increased aid to education and students, only about $42 billion remains.

But that $42 billion includes tens of billions in new funding for Pell Grants, which have seen a steep increase in applicants since the start of the current recession. It also includes new funding for community colleges — money that at one point in negotiations was stripped from the bill — and a new measure capping student loan payments under the Income-Based Repayment Program at ten percent of a borrower’s total income.

If the SAFRA/HCR package passes the House today, it heads back to the Senate for a reconciliation vote — a vote to “reconcile” the Senate’s language with the House’s. That vote, US Student Association president Gregory Cendana told me yesterday, is scheduled to take place by the end of this week.

The Senate leadership has shown House Democrats a letter in which more than fifty Senators pledge to support the reconciliation bill, and that bill is widely expected to pass with little trouble. But it’s still possible that changes could be made, and if SAFRA is weakened before passage, it’ll happen in the Senate, not the House.

The national news media have been focusing all their attention on the House stage of this process in recent days, and as more information about SAFRA’s Senate prospects becomes available I’ll pass it along. But that’s a thumbnail sketch of what to look for — HCR drama in the House today, last-minute SAFRA lobbying in the Senate for the rest of the week.

“I am dreaming, and I want to do good. For the good you do is never lost. Not even in dreams.”

— Pedro Calderón de la Barca, as quoted by Mario Savio

This is going to be really cool.

Next Saturday, the student government of St. John’s University in Queens will be hosting a day-long University Think Tank for student government leaders. The event is intended to give students from around New York a chance to learn from each other, exchange ideas and questions, and build a new citywide network of activists.

And I’ll be giving the keynote speech — my first public speaking engagement in New York City in almost a year.

Attendance at the conference is free, and includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There’ll be discussion sessions, workshops, and other events, with plenty of chances for networking and making connections. St. John’s is easily accessible by car or public transportation.

A dozen campuses are already expected to attend — CUNY and private schools, community colleges and universities. There’s still time to RSVP, too: just drop conference coordinator Ish Sanchez a line at uttcoalition@gmail.com by March 25.