STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

On 2025-03-12, Senator Katie Boyd Britt (R-AL) delivered a floor speech titled "STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS" in the Senate. The speech addressed the environment and also covered foreign policy, education. It referenced legislation including S1706, S1716, S984, among other bills.

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 47 (Wednesday, March 12, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 12, 2025)] [Senate] [Pages S1706-S1716] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS By Mr. PADILLA (for himself and Mr. Tillis): S. 984. A bill to amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to establish an exception to certain payment limitations in the case of person or legal entity that derives income from agriculture, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the bipartisan Fair Access to Agriculture Disaster Programs Act. This legislation would ensure all farmers can access critical U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster relief programs. Increasingly frequent and catastrophic floods, fires, freezes, and other disasters are threatening the long-term sustainability of agriculture across the country. The impact has been particularly acute for California's agricultural communities, who face year-round threats from drought, heat, floods, and fires--even in January. The farm bill authorizes safety net programs to help producers recover, but outdated adjusted gross income, AGI, limits exclude many specialty crop growers, despite facing the same extreme weather challenges as other farmers. As a result, producers from California to North Carolina are blocked from vital disaster assistance. The Fair Access to Agriculture Disaster Programs Act adopts flexibility used in the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program to waive the AGI limitation for producers that derive 75 percent of their AGI from farming, ranching, or related farming practices. What are referred to as specialty crops are just that--special. Specialty crops, which include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops that are cultivated for food and medicine, require overall higher input costs and specialized processes for planting, growing, and harvesting. Did you know that it costs more than $30,000 to produce an acre of strawberries? The cost of production for specialty crops is typically thousands of dollars per acre. As a result, both large and small producers of specialty crops end up exceeding the AGI limitations put in place to means-test critical disaster assistance. That is why we need to pass the Fair Access to Agriculture Disaster Programs Act to ensure farmers and ranchers can access agricultural safety net programs in the wake of increasingly more frequent and catastrophic disasters. I would like to thank Senator Tillis for joining me to introduce this bill, and I forward to working with my colleagues to pass the Fair Access to Agriculture Disaster Programs Act as quickly as possible. ______ By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Merkley): S. 994. A bill to provide for accountability in higher education; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: S. 994 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Risky Operations from Threatening the Education and Career Trajectories of Students Act of 2025'' or the ``PROTECT Students Act of 2025''. SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. Sec. 3. References. TITLE I--STUDENT AND TAXPAYER PROTECTIONS Sec. 101. Gainful employment and financial value transparency. Sec. 102. Borrower defense and substantial misrepresentations. Sec. 103. Closed school discharge. Sec. 104. Prohibition on institutions limiting student legal action. Sec. 105. Incentive compensation. TITLE II--ENSURING INTEGRITY AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACTORS Sec. 201. Updating Federal oversight of third-party servicers. Sec. 202. Job placement rates. Sec. 203. Allocation of tuition and fee revenue by title IV institutions. Sec. 204. Past performance. Sec. 205. Recoupment. TITLE III--IMPROVING OVERSIGHT Sec. 301. Enforcement in the Office of Federal Student Aid. Sec. 302. For-Profit Education Oversight Coordination Committee. Sec. 303. Establishment and maintenance of complaint resolution and tracking system. Sec. 304. Reforms to eligibility and certification procedures. Sec. 305. State oversight. Sec. 306. Accrediting agency oversight. Sec. 307. Mandatory spending for administrative costs of operating the student aid programs. TITLE IV--IMPROVING ACCESS TO STUDENT AND TAXPAYER INFORMATION Sec. 401. Reporting and disclosures from institutions of higher education. Sec. 402. Transparency of oversight activities. SEC. 3. REFERENCES. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, wherever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to that section or other provision of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). TITLE I--STUDENT AND TAXPAYER PROTECTIONS SEC. 101. GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT AND FINANCIAL VALUE TRANSPARENCY. (a) Defining Gainful Employment Programs.-- (1) Additional institutions.--Section 101(b) (20 U.S.C. 1001(b)) is amended in paragraph (1), by inserting ``, including that meets the standards for debt-to-earnings and earnings premium in section 498C,'' after ``gainful employment in a recognized occupation''. (2) Proprietary institution of higher education.--Section 102(b)(1)(A)(i) (20 U.S.C. 1002(b)(1)(A)(i)) is amended, by inserting ``, including that meets the standards for debt-to- earnings and earnings premium in section 498C'' after ``gainful employment in a recognized occupation''. (3) Postsecondary vocational institution.--Section 102(c)(1)(A) (20 U.S.C. 1002(c)(1)(A)) is amended, by inserting ``, including that meets the standards for debt-to- earnings and earnings premium in section 498C'' after ``gainful employment in a recognized occupation''. (4) Eligible program.--Section 481(b)(1)(A)(i) (20 U.S.C. 1088(b)(1)(A)(i)) is amended, by inserting ``, including that meets the standards for debt-to-earnings and earnings premium in section 498C'' after ``gainful employment in a recognized profession''. (b) Debt-to-earnings and Earnings Premium.--Subpart 3 of part H of title IV (20 U.S.C. 1099c et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``SEC. 498C. DEBT-TO-EARNINGS AND EARNINGS PREMIUM. ``(a) Definitions.--In this section: ``(1) Annual debt-to-earnings rate.--The term `annual debt- to-earnings rate' means the rate that is calculated for a cohort of students by taking the annual loan payment for such cohort, as calculated by the Secretary, divided by the median annual earnings for such cohort. ``(2) Annual loan payment.--The term `annual loan payment' means, for a cohort of students, as defined by the Secretary, who [[Page S1707]] completed an eligible program, their total annual payment on loans borrowed to enroll in the institution that offered the eligible program, measured not less than 2 and not more than 4 years after their completion. ``(3) Discretionary debt-to-earnings rate.--The term `discretionary debt-to-earnings rate' means the rate that is calculated for a cohort of students by taking the annual loan payment for such cohort, as calculated by the Secretary, divided by the discretionary earnings for such cohort. ``(4) Discretionary earnings.--The term `discretionary earnings' means, for a cohort of students, as defined by the Secretary, who completed an eligible program, the median annual earnings minus the amount that is 150 percent of the poverty level for an individual, as determined by the Department of Health and Human Services. ``(5) Earnings premium.--The term `earnings premium' means the amount by which the median annual earnings exceed the median earnings for working adults with not more than a high school diploma, as determined using data from the Bureau of the Census-- ``(A) in the State where the institution that provides the eligible program is located; or ``(B) if fewer than half of the students in the eligible program are from the State where the institution that provides the eligible program is located, or if the institution is a foreign institution, nationally. ``(6) Median annual earnings.--The term `median annual earnings' means, for a cohort of students, as defined by the Secretary, who completed an eligible program, the midpoint of their annual earnings measured not less than 2 and not more than 4 years after their completion. ``(b) Standards.-- ``(1) In general.--An eligible program does not meet the standards for debt-to-earnings or earnings premium if it fails the debt-to-earnings rates or fails the earnings premium, as described in paragraph (2), in 2 out of any 3 consecutive years. ``(2) Failing.--An eligible program-- ``(A) fails the debt-to-earnings rates if it has-- ``(i) a discretionary debt-to-earnings rate equal to or greater than 20 percent; and ``(ii) an annual debt-to-earnings rate equal to or greater than 8 percent; and ``(B) fails the earnings premium if it has an earnings premium of zero or a negative amount. ``(c) Process.-- ``(1) Data match.--In order to ensure compliance with paragraph (2), the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, and the head of any other Federal agency that administers the database of individual-level earnings data shall, in coordination with the Secretary, timely ensure secure, annual data matches of earnings data with Department of Education data to produce the median annual earnings of each eligible program. ``(2) Requirements of the 

Referenced legislation: S984, S984, S994, S1003, S1009