Kicking off what will likely be months of contentious budget battles, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday released a 2016 funding blueprint that calls for freezing the maximum Pell Grant award.
The proposal, which was spearheaded by the House budget committee chairman, Representative Tom Price of Georgia, would keep the maximum Pell award at the current $5,775 for the next 10 years.
It is part of an overall plan that seeks deep cuts in domestic spending in order to bring the federal government’s expenditures into balance with its revenue over the next decade.
The proposal echoes the budgetary visions of Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who chaired the House budget committee in the last Congress.
Like Ryan’s recommendations in previous years, this year's Republican plan criticizes the expansion of the Pell Grant program under the Obama administration as unsustainable.
Still, the budget outline is more of an ideological statement of priorities than it is a road map to any specific changes to student aid programs.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/18/house-republicans-again-propose-10-year-freeze-pell-grant-maximum-award