Kennedy Leaves Legacy in Building a Competitive U.S. Workforce

Senator Edward Kennedy’s passing last week has been described in the national media as the “end of an era.” He has been praised for his work in support of civil rights, for fighting for equal pay for equal work, for defending the rights for the disabled, and for enabling access to higher education for the disadvantaged. 

As a longtime member and sitting Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), Kennedy left a legacy which included considerable efforts to improve the workforce competitiveness of the U.S. middle and lower income sectors, with particular emphasis on access to higher education and expanding and safeguarding federal student aid funding.

“No United States senator has committed more of his time and his wisdom to the advancement of American higher education. Thanks to him, students across the spectrum have the opportunity to pursue their ambitions,” said Drew Faust, President of Harvard in December 2008, as the University bestowed an honorary degree to Kennedy.

Of the approximately 300 pieces of public law authored by his office in his 47 years of service, many impacted the landscape of higher education funding and access. 

Kennedy was considered the primary author of the Federal direct loan program and he conceived of and executed the compromise program which allowed students to choose between FFEL and direct loans.   He garnered bipartisan support for the compromise plan by the government, which was enacted by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1993. 

Kennedy was a champion of raising Pell grant limits to ensure college access and affordability.   “Access to college was a huge issue for Senator Kennedy,” says Will Marshall, President of the liberal Progressive Policy Institute.  “Particularly as college prices rose, often outstripping inflation, he was indefatigable in creating a support system for middle class families and generally low income families through vehicles like Pell grants.” 

More recently in 2007, Senator Kennedy co-authored the College Costs Reduction and Access Act which authorized $23 billion increase  in student aid, the largest amount  since the GI Bill.  When President Bush signed the bill into law, Kennedy applauded the accomplishment, stating, “A college education is more important than ever – important to individual opportunity and important to our nation’s economic health.  This legislation shelters students and their parents from the turbulence in the credit markets so a student’s ability to go to college and pursue the American Dream is not blocked.”

Senators Kennedy and Enzi were also responsible for shepherding through the HELP committee reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in 2008, which took steps to simplify the FAFSA and expanded aid to low income students once again. 

PPI’s Marshall says another area Kennedy championed was national service.  “He was committed to the idea that we should expand opportunities for young people to serve their community and their country; and they should earn a reward to defray college costs for doing so.  Such a reward could be applied to any postsecondary training or professional training,” Marshall says.     

In May 2008, Senator Kennedy also passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act which increased the amount of low-cost federal loans available to students and gave parents of eligible students better access to low-cost federal loans (PLUS loans).

At his confirmation hearings in 2009, then Education Secretary-designate Arne Duncan praised Senator Kennedy’s involvement in passing the America COMPETES Act of 2006.   This bipartisan legislation was intended to help the U.S. remain competitive in the 21^st century global economy by increasing research investment and “strengthening educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from elementary through graduate school.”

Will Marshall says that the Senator’s passing will leave a gap in general in the Senate, but that there are plenty of Democrats who want to expand access to college. 

“Tax credits and policies aimed at ensuring access for the middle class are a big Democrat focus.   It’s no longer just low income families that are having access problems.  The middle class is getting squeezed,” he says.