Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Committee approves Student Financial Clarity Act after contentious amendment fights over implementation and agency capacity
Loading...
Summary
The committee agreed to HR 6498, which reforms the College Scorecard and requires a universal net price calculator and program-level reporting, after multiple amendment debates and recorded roll calls; committee recorded vote was 27–6 to report the bill.
Representative Onder and other sponsors presented HR 6498 to expand the College Scorecard, require program-level outcomes and a universal net price calculator, and improve consumer information about college costs and expected earnings. Proponents argued better data helps students make informed decisions and reduces predatory practices.
Democrats repeatedly raised concerns about implementing the new reporting and tools given staffing cuts at the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the department's recent use of interagency agreements. Representative Takano and other Democrats warned that assigning new workloads to an under-resourced IES would hamper faithful implementation and urged additional funding or safeguards. Representative Bonamici and others offered amendments to prohibit delegating the work away from the Department of Education; those amendments were voted down in committee.
Several amendments were debated, including one from Representative Takano to codify gainful employment and financial value transparency rules, which sponsors and the ranking member supported for stronger accountability; other Democratic amendments on consumer testing, transparency explanations, and implementation funding were proposed but mostly not adopted in recorded votes. The committee agreed to the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended and reported HR 6498 to the House with a recorded tally of 27 yeas and 6 nays.
