Boston-area schools could stand to lose millions of dollars after the Bush administration called on Congress to eliminate more than $1 billion in congressional payments to schools across the country.
In a letter sent to Congress last month, Bush called for lawmakers to eliminate $1.3 billion of the $2.2 billion in earmarks attached to the 2002 appropriations bill for education, labor and health and human services.
In Boston, Emerson College has a chance to lose its $1 million gift from Congress for teacher training and new digital equipment. Suffolk University could lose $750,000 for an institute to house the archives of late Rep. Joseph Moakley. Also, Emmanuel College might be deprived of $850,000 for various technology improvements, and the University of Massachusetts could see $600,000 for marine research disappear.
“It would be sad if we didn’t get it,” said Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott in a statement.
According to The Boston Globe, the direct payment process has many critics, including the Bush administration, which views it as wasteful spending that circumvents the usual competitive federal funding process.
Lawmakers who aid in gaining funds, however, argue the direct payments, known as earmarks, benefit small schools and help their constituents bypass an otherwise complex federal bureaucracy, the Globe reported.
According to the article, these lawmakers have protected the payment process for quite some time now, a practice that in fiscal year 2001 awarded college campuses a record $1.7 billion — a 60 percent increase from the previous year. It is argued that the administration’s proposal infringes on Congress’ discretion over how to dole out federal dollars.
Due to the recession and a sharp increase in student enrollment, the administration says there is a greater demand than expected this year for the Pell program, which provides grants of up to $4,000 to help low-income students pay for college.
“Our goal is to fully fund the Pell Grant program,” Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, told the Boston Globe. “Congress has rescinded appropriation throughout its history, and this proposal is simply a suggestion to Congress that earmarks are a place to consider the cuts.”
In Congress, keeping control of the purse strings is a bipartisan issue.
“We don’t consider this a serious proposal,” said John Scofield, a spokesman for the Republican side of the House Appropriations Committee, in a statement. “This money is an extremely high priority for some congressmen and their districts.”
“For us, this is truly a big deal,” said David Rosen, an Emerson College spokesman, to the Globe. “The notion of competing for peer-review funds just doesn’t apply to a place like this. We’re a college of the performing arts, and we don’t typically generate a lot of government support. This helps put us on the map.”
“We have a $22 million construction process underway right now,” Rosen said. “All of that money is private money. None of the grant will go toward the construction process, but if we don’t get it, we will not be able to move as quickly with teacher training and equipment costs.”
Larger institutions, such as Boston University, also rely heavily upon these direct loans.
“We don’t think that it is a good idea,” said Colin Riley, a spokesman for BU. “We are strong supporters of the direct loan program.”
However, despite the urgent demand for these funds, Rosen is optimistic.
“I have no direct knowledge of this proposal,” he said. “My guess is that it is highly unlikely, because the process has already gone too far. The President has signed over the funds and I expect it to go through as planned.”
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