Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail

Floor Speech

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Ms. ERNST. Madam President, I want to thank the Senator from West Virginia for arranging today's floor speeches focused on FAFSA.

Today is May 1, and it is national college decision day. Typically, this day is cause for celebration for students and families all across the United States.

Finalizing the next step after high school represents a huge milestone for young men and women and one that is earned by that late- night studying, participating in different extracurricular activities, and meticulously filling out applications, and oftentimes determined by a good old college road trip. Together, families will hop on the highway to find their future college or university, hopefully of that student's choosing.

This year, as folks embarked on this journey, little did they know that the Biden administration would be putting up roadblocks. So, today, instead of celebrating college decision day, there are millions of young people waiting anxiously to hear from the Department of Education on whether they will be able to afford college.

The best way for college hopefuls to know what support they may receive comes from the free application for Federal student aid, which we call the FAFSA.

Due to incomplete planning measures and likely yielding to progressives' priorities, Biden's Department of Education released this year's FAFSA form 3 months late, drastically condensing the timeline for families to submit it. To this day, they still haven't fixed their fiasco, and the negative implications are like a five-car pileup.

Since the delayed January release of the new FAFSA form, I have been driving river to river across Iowa, hearing from students, from their parents, and from aid administrators and counselors on the impact of this disastrous rollout.

I recently met with Jennifer Holliday. Jennifer is a fellow farm kid and the current student body president of Iowa State University.

So go, Jennifer, and ``Go Clones!''

She and her younger sister eagerly submitted their FAFSA forms as early as possible, but as of last week, Jennifer had still not received her estimated aid even though her sister received it months ago. Folks, we are talking about two kids from the same family. It doesn't make any sense.

During our conversation, Jennifer told me that she is scared to see how much her aid offer will decrease due to the Department penalizing farm families. Even though the new FAFSA formula was supposed to improve eligibility for aid, it has instead caused some farm families' expected contributions to skyrocket more than five times.

Sadly, these FAFSA fumbles are far too common under the Biden administration. An exceptionally bright high schooler from Des Moines shared with me that while he hoped to have a traditional college experience living in a dorm at a 4-year university in Iowa, he still wasn't sure what his aid package would look like. Since he wasn't willing to sign up for debt without knowing exactly what he would have to pay--that is a smart kid--he plans to live at home and attend community college for now, hoping the FAFSA fiasco is fixed in time to try again next year.

But this wreck isn't just punishing high school seniors. I recently spoke to a mom of four from Sioux City, and she told me that she went back to school after more than a decade. Again, she was a young mother, a mother of four, and she really wanted to finish her degree, so she went to school after more than a decade to complete her teaching degree. Her goal is to teach high school history and equip our next generation. And like so many other hopefuls, she still has not received a clear estimate of her aid, and it remains to be seen if she will be able to pay for her fall semester classes.

As the Biden administration refuses to provide a clear path for students or school administrators, we continue to see the Department detour its attention to Democrat priorities. After more than 3 months of requests from my office, this administration has failed to provide Congress with a transparent response on how they are adequately making corrections to the FAFSA, even as we are rapidly approaching next year's rollout.

Meanwhile, just 2 weeks ago, right before college decision day, the Biden administration announced an additional $7.4 billion in loan cancellation and $6 billion more today, bringing the grand total to $160 billion.

Biden's Ed Department has also prioritized radical gender ideology over the most fundamental statutory protections of women in schools. It is clear, folks, the left lane to higher learning has been paved with the President's political pet projects, and Iowans are in for a bumpy ride.

When Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act, it was done so with the understanding that the Department of Education would prioritize a thorough and well-tested model for the student aid form. Well, that clearly has not happened.

While the administration has had FAFSA under construction for 3 years--yes, 3 years to get this rollout right--traffic is still at a screeching halt. But rest assured, folks, I am fighting back--first, to ensure not a cent allocated for the FAFSA simplification was spent on Biden's student loan bailout; second, to allow students like whose stories I have shared, those farm kids from rural Iowa, our non- traditional students, mothers who are looking for a second opportunity, and everyone who is forced to miss out on pursuing the college of their choice this year because of the administration's incompetence to get access to the potentially life-changing aid they deserve.

There is significant roadwork ahead, but I am not pumping the brakes until the Biden administration removes these roadblocks and fixes its FAFSA fiasco.

I yield back.

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