Floor Statement of Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte S. 1482, the Need-Based Educational Aid Act of 2015
Chairman Goodlatte: Mr./Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
S. 1482, the Need-Based Educational Aid Act of 2015 continues an antitrust exemption that is set to expire on September 30, 2015. The exemption allows participating colleges and universities to collaborate on a set of criteria to determine applicants’ needs for private financial aid. To be clear, this exemption does not apply to federal financial aid, only to aid directly provided by the participating colleges and universities.
The Antitrust Modernization Commission (AMC) generally cautioned against antitrust exemptions and recommended that Congress closely examine any proposed antitrust immunities.
The antitrust exemption continued by S. 1482 has been in place since 1992. Over the past 23 years, Congress has extended the antitrust exemption on four separate occasions, each time with broad, bi-partisan support.
Additionally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study to determine whether the exemption adversely impacted the affordability of college, and concluded that it did not.
While S. 1482 continues the existing antitrust exemption, it also narrows it in recognition of the fact that one of the practices allowed by that exemption has not been utilized by participating colleges and universities. Accordingly, the legislation limits the scope of the antitrust exemption to those activities that colleges and universities truly need and use.
Given the lengthy legislative record, the narrowed scope of the exemption, the GAO study on the effects of the bill, and the seven-year sunset included in the bill, I believe that S. 1482 proposes a safe extension of a reasonable and worthwhile antitrust exemption.
I thank the former Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Congressman Smith, for introducing the House version of this legislation, H.R. 2604, which the Judiciary Committee ordered favorably reported without amendment. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.