GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg: Pell Grants Are Becoming 'The Welfare Of The 21st Century'

[dtotire]

GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg: Pell Grants Are Becoming 'The Welfare Of The 21st Century'


WASHINGTON -- Pell Grants are the nation's largest financial aid program, providing low-income students with grants to help pay for the rising cost of attending college. But the cost of the program is also growing rapidly, set to exceed $40 billion for the 2012 fiscal year.

Some lawmakers have been exploring ways to reducing the costs of the programs by lowering the maximum grant size -- which is currently $5,550 -- or somehow restricting eligibility. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education that deals with the program, has examined whether there are ways to tie the grants to achievement or graduation rates.

In a radio interview on Friday, he compared Pell Grants to "welfare" and decried the fact that students who receive them don't have any sort of graduation requirement and could go straight from the education grant to "food stamps."

"So you can go to college on Pell Grants -- maybe I should not be telling anybody this because it’s turning out to be the welfare of the 21st century," said Rehberg in an interview with Blog Talk Radio. "You can go to school, collect your Pell Grants, get food stamps, low-income energy assistance, section 8 housing, and all of a sudden we find ourselves subsidizing people that don’t have to graduate from college. And there ought to be some kind of commitment and endgame."

Rehberg added under the federal program, a student could "go to school for nine years on Pell Grants and you don’t even have to get a degree."

[Cassandra]

1. Of course he's a repuke.

Corporate taxcuts and loopholes are 'The Welfare Of The 21st Century'.

[rfranklin]

2. Like the results provided by your corporate benefactors, asshole?

Oh, I forgot...those aren't performance bonuses...no, they are "retention bonuses." If we don't pay you a ransom to wreck this company you'll go someplace else and wreck that company.

[dkf]

3. Yeesh, it's not like college is a super enjoyable luxury.

Getting an education and learning things takes effort.

[handmade34]

5. well...

sadly, college is becoming a luxury...

old saying:

"The problem with our beloved country is that
our luxuries have become all too necessary
and our necessities are (all too often)becoming luxuries"

[azurnoir]

4. ah how Repiblican of him his entire statement like so many right wing statements

are dependent on ignorance of the current laws concerning food stamps section 8 and medical assistance, but never mind if they aim low their bound to hit something

[tanyev]

6. See if you can get Liberty University behind you on this one, Rep. Rehberg.

Go ahead, I dare you.



Liberty University Tops State in Federal Aid for Its Students

Liberty University students received approximately $445 million in federal financial aid money last fiscal year, according to U.S. Department of Education data, making LU the top recipient in Virginia.

--snip--

Contributing to the rise were the faltering economy, the federal stimulus program and the government's expansion of the Pell grant program, Ritz said. Last year, Liberty received upwards of $55 million in Pell money, ranking 28th in the nation and no. 1 in Virginia. The Pell program serves the country's neediest students.

http://www.urbanchristiannews.com/ucn/2011/03/liberty-university-tops-state-in-federal-aid-for-its-students.html

[Lisa D]

7. He's an idiot.

Is that a requirement in the GOP to run for office these days?

[The Magistrate]

11. It Seems To Be, Ma'am: Not Only Idiocy But Cruelty Seem To Be Their Leading 'Qualifications'

[Hippo_Tron]

8. If anyone is so inclined, send a few bucks to Jon Tester to keep this asshat out of the Senate

https://secure.jontester.com/page/contribute

[pinkkillersheep]

9. As a recipient of Pell Grants

This guy can kiss my fully employed ass. I would NEVER have been able to graduate without financial assistance. I guess my engineering degree just isn't valuable enough to the country for him. ::fuming::

[fujiyama]

10. What is these fuckers' solution?

Cut education funding, Pell Grants, unemployment benefits...

What the fuck are people supposed to do? I would recommend going into skilled trades considering 4 year college/university is long, expensive, and doesn't necessarily teach practical skills , but ass holes like Walker have cut apprenticeship programs as well. How the hell is someone supposed to get into a trade then? Do people have to somehow teach themselves skills and practice unlicensed? Or just be lucky enough to know someone in that particular field?

These people don't have a single viable solution to improve the economy. These teabaggers are greedy fucking idiots. I hope people realized their mistakes in putting them into office.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

12. Folks like this want to keep the populace ignorant......

so much easier to line your pockets with their money when they have no idea what's going on.

[cutlassmama]

20. Exactly. They want us dumb and dumber, watching American Idol

and not paying attention to what they are doing. Also, the dumber we are the cheaper the labor, until we die.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Link?

[etherealtruth]

14. one of many

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Future-of-Pell-Grants-6/126820/

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. I was wanting a link to this rep's comments

[etherealtruth]

16. Here you go/ the info at the previous link seems to have dead ended

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/denny-rehberg-pell-grants-welfare-21st-century_n_843712.html

[MH1]

17. republicans hate college education

particularly the 'liberal arts' subject areas.

Seriously, based on conversations I've had with conservatives, they really DO hate college education ... they prefer their populace stupid, and thus more easily manipulated. (not that that's news to anyone at DU)

[graywarrior]

18. Oh really?

Pell Grants got me through college recently and enabled my writing to published in an esteemed college magazine. Pell Grants helped me learn what scum bags republicans are in a more educated, factual way. Pell Grants opened my eyes to the social stratification and now non-existent egalitarian societies in the US and other cultures.

Republicans would love nothing better that Americans remain so stupid they believe anything the Repubs say. Oh wait....I forgot who just got voted in as Govs in various states.

[Jkid]

19. Someone should ask Rep. Denny Rehberg this question

How did you payed for your college?

[distantearlywarning]

21. I had Pell Grants.

Received my B.A. in two and a half years because I took max credits every semester including summers. I took no time off, and graduated with a 3.92 GPA. I wasn't interested in hanging around coasting off the public welfare, I was interested in graduating.

Flash forward a few years: I will be receiving a Ph.D. less than one year from today, and expect to have a starting salary high enough that my husband and I will be in a tax bracket where Republicans actually give a shit about you (too bad for them neither of us has voted for a Republican in more than a decade).

By the way, I also had to take student loans for my undergrad degree, because Pell Grants are so miniscule that (in my case) they don't even cover tuition every semester, much less living expenses.

Fuck you, Denny Rehberg. Personally, I think one of the largest concentrations of worthless, lazy social parasites can be found on Capital Hill; I vote for cutting congressional salaries first to save the taxpayers money.

[blogslut]

22. There is a commitment, Rehberg, you insolent sot.

In order to keep getting Pell grants, the recipient must maintain a GPA above 2.0. You know, the same grade average maintained by Dubya when he got his free ride through Yale.

Free university educations for all! Make it so!

EDIT ADD: Ironic Photo:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6wtj4kFJM64/SdeEUmIJOlI/AAAAAAAABU8/JqAkAUgVKNw/s400/Denny+Rehberg+-+Representitive.jpg

[alp227]

23. so he'd rather keep poor people dumb, or just say "get a job!"

when the NY Times recently reported many low wage jobs don't meet basic needs since most of the time that's the only choice for college students to work if they can't get an internship?

And if he thinks the "party girls" in college are welfare queens...pshh. Does Rehberg also oppose legacy admissions and other systems that give the wealthy and well connected students advantage in college admissions?

[Morning Dew]

24. section 8, lol

here in Minneapolis, sometimes it takes 5 or more years to get section 8 housing.