mr. chairman , today i rise to express my deep concerns about how this bill falls $ 1.6 billion short in funding our nation 's most critically important domestic priorities -- particularly education .  this bill is a stunning example of the impact that this congress 's misplaced priorities can have on what most consider to be a basic human right -- access to a quality education .  we have made a conscious choice : while we give away tax cuts worth $ 140 , 000 to millionaires , families earning $ 25 , 000 to $ 30 , 000 a year wo n't be able to afford sending their children to college this year .  it 's an unconscionable choice that defies our priorities and our values of standing up for middle class americans .  before i was elected to congress , i spent 30 years as a college administrator .  in that time , i came to fully understand how difficult it is for students and their families to afford college .  every day , i worked with parents and their children -- scraping up money , grants , scholarships , whatever we could find -- to help them realize part of the american dream -- the opportunity to earn a college education .  but for the fourth straight year , congress has short-changed students by cutting billions of dollars from the authorized level under law -- $ 13.2 billion short of what is authorized for fy 06 and over $ 40 billion short since its enactment in 2001 .  another public law we have abandoned is the idea improvement act , which has been underfunded by nearly $ 4 billion since its enactment .  for our nation 's 7 million disabled children , idea part b grants alone fall short of the president 's budget request by over $ 500 million .  at a time when some of the nation 's poorest school districts are fighting to stay open , this bill cuts title i funding for the neediest of our elementary and secondary schools by $ 500 million below the president 's request .  while in the past year alone , tuition has increased an average of 10.5 percent at 4-year public universities , this bill provides only a modest $ 50 increase in the maximum pell grant -- a full $ 1 , 000 short of what the president promised in 2001 .  and , ironically , at a time when this administration and republican congress talk about morality and family values in public affairs , this bill cuts local public tv and radio funds for childrens ' shows like sesame street and reading rainbow .  my specific concerns about the higher education shortfalls stem from my belief that a quality education is integral to the success of americans and the nation as a whole .  as an increasing number of students graduate from high school and pursue postsecondary education and training , we must make the necessary investment to deliver accessible , affordable and excellent education to all americans .  each year , millions of hardworking american students and their families struggle to cover the cost of attending college , even after exhausting all of the options available to them such as scholarships , student loans , pell grants , and college work-study .  the typical low-income student falls $ 3 , 800 short of college costs even after their family contribution , student loans , grants , and work have been accounted for .  today , an affluent student in the bottom percentile of their class is more likely to go to college than an economically disadvantaged student at the top of their class .  with college enrollment expected to expand by 14 percent , to more than 15 million students over the next decade , now is the time that congress must invest its resources towards helping students gain access to college .  but under this bill , the percentage of college costs covered by the pell grant would drop to a new low of 32 percent .  this is compared to thirty years ago when the pell grants paid for 72 percent of the cost for a 4-year public college .  the lack of a significant increase in the pell grant comes at a time when changes to the tax allowance formula used to calculate the department of education 's `` expected family contribution '' eliminated pell grant awards for over 90 , 000 students , and reduced scholarships for an additional 1.3 million students .  for the second year in a row , this bill also freezes funding for supplemental education opportunity grants ( seog ) and college work study .  this is the second year in a row that seog and work-study have received flat funding .  with this bill , we have made a conscious choice -- to provide more comfort for the comfortable at the expense of those who are trying to make a better life for themselves .  