House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening today’s hearing.  And Madam Secretary, I thank you for joining us and welcome you back to our Committee.  I look forward to your testimony and our discussion about the steps the Department and Congress are taking to reaffirm trust in our nation’s financial aid system, as well as Reading First.

Oversight is a healthy congressional practice.  It has led to some key reforms within the Washington bureaucracy, and I look forward to continuing as a partner in such an effort. 

Similarly, oversight within the Department of Education is certainly nothing new.  During the late 1990s, as many of us on this panel remember, the Department failed a series of internal audits.  An estimated $450 million was lost to waste and fraud.  Money intended for South Dakota schools, for example, was diverted to buy real estate and new cars; more than $1 million was lost to false overtime payments; and a massive theft ring, started by a Department employee, led to federal charges against 19 people. 

After years of work to clean up this mess, in 2003, the Bush Administration announced the Department’s first independent, clean audit in years.  And they have followed suit each year since.  More recently, in 2005, our federal student aid programs were removed from the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk designation list after 15 years.  My colleagues, this turnaround didn’t happen by accident, and I am confident the Department will continue to be a partner in addressing the challenges before us.

As we continue with our oversight of the Department, I am compelled to express a few concerns to help lay the groundwork for this hearing.  First, I’m often puzzled and, frankly, concerned by claims that men and women with a deep understanding of a particular policy area have no role to play in an agency that deals each day with matters of that very same area of policy. 

Chairman Miller, you and I have a deep interest – and, as a result – a deep background with regard to education and labor issues.  That’s why we’re sitting in these seats, after all.  To argue that our background and depth of knowledge taints us and should bar us from legislating on these matters is not sensible.  The same holds true, in my opinion, with regard to our federal agencies.  This was the case in the Clinton Administration, when so-called “industry insiders” staffed the Department of Education, and nothing was wrong with it then.  Likewise, nothing is wrong with it now.

Secondly – and I noted this on the floor yesterday when we considered the bipartisan Student Loan Sunshine Act – we need to keep in mind the fact that the vast majority of the men and women involved in our nation’s financial aid and Reading First programs are hard-working, well-intentioned public servants.  If we broadly condemn them, including the vast majority who do exceptional work, we do so at our own peril and risk undermining public confidence in student aid programs and a Reading First program that – by all accounts – are working well for millions of American students and their families.

And finally, I believe oversight should lead to action, not merely headlines.  Overzealous oversight all too often triggers overly-broad requests for information that can distract an agency from serving the needs of those who depend on it.  In this instance, that’s students, parents, and taxpayers.  Similarly, we must be cautious not to engage in an endless, partisan fishing expedition that – after a while – runs the risk of becoming a witch hunt instead of a serious pursuit of changes to public policy. 

With regard to serious changes to public policy, Mr. Chairman, I believe our bipartisan vote yesterday on the Student Loan Sunshine Act has gotten us off to a great start.  Through that bill, we have taken key steps to ensure our financial aid system continues to serve the needs of the students who depend on it for a chance at a college education.  Madam Secretary, I was pleased to read in your prepared testimony that your student loan task force has made a number of recommendations that will now be incorporated into the regulatory process.  Going beyond these recommendations, I am hopeful that soon you will re-open the National Student Loan Data System so student lenders again will be able to fully participate in the system and provide the best possible service to families counting on a student loan to attend college this coming fall and to graduates planning to consolidate their loans prior to July 1st, when variable interest rates are expected to increase for existing loans.

On Reading First, Madam Secretary, I applaud the immediate administrative changes you have implemented in light of the Inspector General’s reports.  Mr. Chairman, as you know, Mr. Castle and I introduced legislation several weeks ago to codify the Inspector General’s recommendations.  We all are in agreement that Reading First is a successful and worthy program.  Now, we must take the initiative to change the law accordingly to ensure past instances of mismanagement never repeat themselves again.  Mr. Castle’s and my bill will do that, and I urge its speedy passage in Committee.

Once again, Madam Secretary, I thank you for joining us today.  I look forward to your testimony and our discussion.  And Chairman Miller, I look forward to a productive hearing that will point us in the direction of real action on the two important issues before us today.

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