Students hit too hard

San Jose Mercury News: Congressional Republicans made a self-satisfied gesture of fiscal constraint before heading home to hornswoggle voters into believing they're really worried about the federal deficit.
The $40 billion in spending cuts, spread over five years, was barely a pinprick -- about a third of 1 percent of the federal budget. This year's budget deficit alone is $319 billion. The spending cuts will soon be swamped by $56 billion in extended tax cuts that Congress is poised to pass early next year, along with $27 billion in additional tax write-offs for the wealthy that took effect Jan. 1.
In fact, $40 billion in cuts would be barely worth mentioning were it not so irresponsible. Bearing the brunt will be the federal college loan program, which Congress instead should be increasing in light of soaring higher education costs and the fact that American industry is clamoring for a better educated workforce.
Because of the cuts, students will be piling up several thousand dollars of additional debt and parents will be paying higher interest on loans -- up to 8.5 percent. Lenders will no longer be able to subsidize new loans from the money they make. And, despite promises to raise Pell Grants -- the foundation of federal student aid -- by $1,000 to keep up with rising costs, the grants will remain capped at $4,000.
New grants
The $22 billion in cuts and restructuring will be partly offset by $3.75 billion in new grants for students studying foreign languages, math and science, plus $2 billion to forgive loans of special-education teachers and students who enlist in the military after college. But the net $13 billion cut marks the biggest hit in the history of the program.
The House version passed narrowly with no Democratic support. It took Vice President Cheney, rushing back from the Mideast, to break a 50-50 tie vote in the Senate.
Describing the vote as the only chance this year to "actually do something about deficit spending," Senate Budget Committee chair Judd Gregg of New Hampshire told senators, "This is our responsibility to our children."
Actually, Congress and the Bush administration have socked it to them. They have piled on a mountain of federal debt with an unbudgeted war in Iraq and a drug program for kids' grandparents.