Biden Warns Progressive Lawmakers That Free Community College Probably Won’t be in Spending Bill
“The President has highlighted the free college proposal in speeches across the country for months”
Little by little, the wheels are falling off the Democrats’ massive spending bill. In the most recent change, Biden informed progressive Democrats that free community college probably won’t make the cut.
This is an issue that senators like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been pushing for years. They are not going to be happy about this.
CNN reports:
Biden discusses $1.9 trillion top line for economic package and tells Democrats free community college is out
President Joe Biden informed House progressives Tuesday afternoon that the final bill to expand the social safety net is expected to drop tuition-free community college, a major White House priority, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
And the President discussed a $1.75 to $1.9 trillion price tag for the sweeping spending package, according to a person familiar with the talks. While the number is not finalized, it is far closer to West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s $1.5 trillion top line than progressives’ number, which was $3.5 trillion…
Biden had called for making two years of community college free — a long-time priority for many Democrats. Some progressives — like Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats — have pushed for even more, calling for making tuition free at public, four-year colleges.
The President has highlighted the free college proposal in speeches across the country for months, telling one audience in July he was “insisting that we have universal pre-kindergarten (and) two years of free community college.”
Even Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who has been a champion for the spending bill, is conceding this point.
The Hill reports:
Jayapal says tuition-free community college ‘probably won’t’ be in spending plan
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) expressed doubt on Tuesday that the tuition-free community college proposal previously floated by Democrats to be included in the sweeping social spending plan the party is crafting will be included in the final version.
“There will be something for higher education, but it probably won’t be the free community college,” Jayapal, who chairs Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the told reporters when discussing ongoing negotiations within the party for the spending plan.
Jayapal’s comments came shortly after CNN reported that President Biden, who has pushed for the measure as a key part of his legislative agenda, told progressives the proposal likely won’t make it into the finalized package…
While Jayapal told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that “nothing’s done yet,” she added that she thinks the measure “probably has got a tough road ahead.”
This is a good question:
If the cost of this legislation is $0, which the White House tweeted recently, why is @JoeBiden caving? https://t.co/it1ELZZsAI
— Nick Gillespie (@nickgillespie) October 20, 2021
The left is going to be really angry about this. I’ll be surprised if there are no protests.
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GASLIGHT
Soon they will start saying that we gain $ 2 Trillion if we spend $5 Trillion (per the new woke math).
I can see the BIDEN press conference now.
“It used to cost $0 folks – but we found a way to actually gain $ 2 Trillion if we spend $ 5 Trillion. So, we are increasing the budget to $10 Trillion so that we can gain $4 Trillion. And, we can print as many dollars as we want, folks dollars – don’y listen to those right wing talking points that say we have to balance the budget – we make the money. Those right wingers are just party-poopers. They stuck in 1990’s economics – racist economics – “Jim Crow” economics. We are going to Build Back Better and the first thing we need to build are more printing presses.”
Lost the attribution:
They wouldn’t need a 3 ziillion dollar budget if they dd that.
Community College will become more like HS than college. Grade inflation too.
It’s already more like HS than college. As is college. Vast numbers of students matriculate as illiterates. I’m so old, I remember when such people were weeded out by entrance exams and essay requirements.
I’m so old I remember when you had to learn to read and write before you graduated from HS.
That’s not old. Old is remembering when you had to learn how to read and write before you could get into HS.
Henry, you are so old-fashioned.
Remember back when HS taught Latin, logic, and rhetoric?
Okay, I can buy Latin being less useful these days. But now we have colleges that have to offer remedial math and English courses.
Needy students already get Pell Grants, which more than cover tuition. This is unnecessary anyway.
“FREE”. lol
“In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: ‘If you don’t work you die.'”
~Kipling
“If you don’t like your tuition, you can keep paying your tuition.”
A malarkey-free administration is such a refreshing change from… freedom.
“A malarkey-free administration”
That’s because they don’t charge extra for it.
Somewhere in America that has to be a billboard with Jimmy Carter’s face saying “Miss me yet?”
The ‘free college’ argument simply doesn’t hold up under any scrutiny. Especially so for very affordable Community College/Trade Certification. Pell grant maximum this year is $6,500. The local JC charges $4,600 while the flagship university charges less than $14,000; both figure are annually full time, in state tuition/fee rates.
Community college is an incredibly affordable value for students. Heck, join the military and by the end of a six year enlistment one can be complete with an Associates degree that the service pays for without touching the GI Bill.
Walk out after six years with an AA, money in the bank, hands on experience in a marketable skill plus leadership experience. All at age 24 with zero debt not to mention the soft skills employer’s crave; show up on time, have a decent attitude, IOW a responsible and dependable employee.
Just a note…while the TUITION at that flagship state school may be 14,000…room board and books and fees will add on an additional 22,000 on top of that easy.
People learn at different rates and intellectual development is not linear nor standardized. Education programs are linear and standardized.
The remedial courses provided at the junior college level are a blessing in that they are available to the student when the student is ready to learn.
As I recall, the preliminary course were labeled as course levels in the 100 range and usually referred to as remedial, introduction or pre-this or that.
There are a lot of people in the world who will not attempt to resolve a compound fraction problem, do not understand the notation or order of operations so they just quit at whatever level they last understood.
To compound matters, there are thousands of teachers in the public school system that have not learned because they have not been taught and that is their frame of reference. The training is related to the process of the system.
On the uptick! The old saying about once you learn to ride a bicycle? If only as much could be said for basic arithmetic.
Unfortunately, in FL, students cannot be mandated into remedial work if they have a diploma from a FL high school. Trust me when I say the diploma is no evidence of achievement.
free truck driving schools
maybe all those people with student loan debt should get a truck driving job to pay off their debt
If community college is supposed to be free why is it in a spending bill?
Leftist illogic knows no bounds and we’re all suffering for it.
We are quickly getting to the point where you aren’t going to be able to find 81 people to admit they voted for that rotting sack of corrupt oatmeal let alone the record breaking number they “claim”.
Let’s go Brandon!
[Get rid of that stupid up to the top button!]
Fundamental point: Community colleges are a function of state and/or local governments. Some states like NY and VA provide it on a state level, and others such as IL provide it with local districts. I honestly believe that given the uneven level of K-12 education, the funds would be better spent on K-12. If a state has a solid K-12, then expanding pre-K or post-secondary will be wise. But that decision should be made at the state level. Some families want to send their kids to a 4-year college (perhaps to be a football player or perhaps to be pre-med.) Other families want to send their kids to a highly specialized program not offered at their local community college, and finally other kids want to go into the military. All of these families pay taxes, and this taxpayer support should not be conditioned upon going to community college vs. other options.