Latest news with #BurgessOwens
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Taylorsville waterline replacement project receives $1.6 million from EPA
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (ABC4) — A major waterline replacement project in Taylorsville just received major funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Congressman Burgess Owens (UT-04) announced Friday that the Taylorsville-Bennion Improvement District will receive $1.6 million from the EPA for the Meadowbrook Waterline Replacement Project. Utah's Westwater community celebrates access to clean drinking water The award from the EPA will support the replacement of aging waterlines in the Meadowbrook area, a critical upgrade to prevent service disruptions and improve the long-term sustainability of the community's water supply system.' 'This historic investment is a win for Taylorsville and a major step toward building safer, stronger infrastructure across Utah's Fourth District,' said Rep. Owens in a press release. 'I was proud to fight for this project, which will ensure families have reliable access to clean, safe drinking water for generations to come. I'm thankful for the partnership of the Taylorsville-Bennion Improvement District and look forward to continuing to be a top advocate for the needs of our community.' This project is one of over 1,000 water structure improvements being funded nationwide through EPA Community Grants. 'This critical infrastructure initiative will significantly enhance the reliability and sustainability of our water supply system,' added Mark Chalk, Taylorsville-Bennion Improvement District General Manager. 'The replacement of the aging waterline is essential to prevent potential disruptions in service and to ensure the continued delivery of clean, safe, and sufficient drinking water to our community.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Republicans move to overhaul student loans, including capping how much can be borrowed
WASHINGTON — Republicans are paving the way to massively restructure the federal student loan system in an attempt to cut billions of dollars in government spending to pay for President Donald Trump's forthcoming tax bill. The House Education and Workforce Committee advanced the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan on Tuesday, one of 11 components of Republicans' massive reconciliation package aimed toward extending certain tax cuts before they expire at the end of this year. The bill passed along party lines and proposes massive changes to cut more than $330 billion in government spending. 'The fact that we are having this conversation is so well needed and long overdue,' Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, who sits on the committee, told the Deseret News. 'This has been a process in which we've lost sight of the mission of why you get a degree. It's become about getting a piece of paper to say that because of the college I came from, I now deserve or am entitled to certain things. We want to make sure we focus on competency. Let's focus on skill sets. And that's the conversation we're finally having.' The bulk of the spending cuts comes from changes to federal loan repayment programs as well as new limits on how much borrowers can receive. The bill would eliminate income-contingent repayment plans, which allow borrowers to craft a monthly payment plan based on their income and family size. Instead, it would consolidate all existing repayment plans into only two options: the Standard Fixed Repayment Plan or the Repayment Assistance Plan. The first option would establish fixed monthly payments over a set amount of time, typically between 10 and 25 years, depending on the outstanding loan balance. The second would implement monthly payments based on income that would extend current forgiveness terms to 30 years, up from the current 20 or 25 years. That means borrowers would need to pay off their loans for at least five years longer before they are eligible for relief. The proposal would establish borrowing caps for students in an attempt to prevent over-borrowing and shield taxpayers from covering the extra costs. The limits would set a maximum cap of $50,000 for undergraduate students, $100,000 for graduate students and $150,000 for professional students. The limits would also eliminate the GradPLUS loan program for graduate students on or after July 1, 2026, with exceptions for some students depending on time of enrollment and loan amount. It also establishes a $50,000 cap on Parent PLUS loans, which allows parents to take out loans to help pay for their child's undergraduate college education. However, it would require the student to borrow the maximum amount they can before the parent is entitled to those funds. 'Our current student loan system is broken and has left students holding over $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt, with taxpayers estimated to lose hundreds of billions of dollars on loans disbursed over the next decade,' committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said in a statement. As part of the proposal, Republicans are targeting colleges and universities to take more accountability when students over-borrow and are unable to pay off their loans. The bill carves out language to make schools responsible for reimbursing taxpayers for part of their financial losses if students 'don't see financial value' from their degrees and can't repay their loans. The legislation would require colleges to pay off a portion of those unpaid loans based on 'how much of a return on investment the degree provided.' 'We're going to first of all make sure (schools have) some skin in the game, so that the degrees that are being sold by these colleges have some value,' Owens said. 'If they don't have some skin in the game, they have to take part in repaying it.' The amount that schools would owe to the Treasury would be calculated based on the total price the institution charges students for a specific program as well as the earnings received by the student after they graduate — or, if they do not graduate, the completion rate of the school or program. It's not entirely clear if there will be monetary requirements for those 'value-added earnings' for students or how federal officials will force reimbursements by colleges. Owens told the Deseret News those details have not yet been finalized but will likely be hashed out in future legislation. One of the main components of the proposal would overturn a Biden-era 'SAVE' repayment plan, a federal-income based program intended to make student loans more affordable and prevent growing debt over time. It's under this plan that loans are forgiven after 20 or 25 years. It also defines discretionary income as anything 225% above the poverty line, which is far more generous than the previous 150%. Republicans have long sought to repeal that program, arguing it lowers costs at the expense of taxpayers. 'We have a new sheriff in town,' Owens said. 'We now have an administration that cares about those who took out loans and is not trying to put federal programs on the back of the taxpayer.' Democrats have decried the proposal, arguing it would raise costs for colleges while limiting students' options for loan repayment. Some have argued that the loan repayment plans would also make it more expensive for those who have already enrolled in current programs that are set to be restructured if the package passes. 'This current reconciliation plan would increase costs for colleges and students, limit students' access to quality programs … and then take the so-called 'savings' to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy and the well-connected,' committee ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., said. The proposal is set to be combined with other committees' reconciliation proposals, which will then be packaged as one massive bill to be passed by the House later this year. GOP leaders are hoping to get the full package through the House by the end of May, an ambitious timeline that could hit some snags due to lingering policy disagreements.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GOP bill repeals rule on how for-profit schools count vets benefits
House Republicans are moving to repeal rules preventing for-profit colleges from counting military education benefits as non-government funding in their financial accounting, a move that advocates said could allow predatory companies to prey upon student veterans. Members of the House Education and Workforce Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to advance their section of the massive congressional reconciliation bill, which includes $330 billion in cuts to education spending over the next decade. Panel Democrats objected to multiple portions of the bill and the GOP's overall approach to federal programming cuts. But language in the bill repealing the '90/10 loophole' regarding GI Bill benefits drew particular concern from veterans advocates, who said the move represents an attack on oversight and accountability for post-military education benefits. Feds close 90/10 loophole involving veterans education benefits 'The closing of this loophole was widely celebrated as a bipartisan success in 2021,' said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., a panel member and the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, during debate on the reconciliation measure Tuesday. 'Congress deemed that holding predatory for-profits accountable was necessary to safeguard federal education benefits and ultimately protect both taxpayers and students.' By law, colleges and universities must have at least 10% of their revenues derived from non-federal sources in order to qualify for federal benefits. The idea behind the regulation is to ensure that for-profit institutions aren't funded solely by federal monies, but instead also include significant investment by students interested in furthering their education. But for years, GI Bill benefits and Defense Department Tuition Assistance programs were not counted as federal dollars for the 90/10 calculation, despite being taxpayer-funded benefits. As a result, schools could target veterans or troops receiving federal education payouts to boost their government funding well beyond the 90% cap. Four years ago, as part of an emergency funding bill, lawmakers closed that loophole, reclassifying the GI Bill money and other military education programs as federal funding in the 90/10 calculations. The new rule has been in place for about three years. But the Republican-backed reconciliation bill would revert to the pre-2021 rules. GOP committee members argued the change was needed to reduce regulations and promote more affordable options for student veterans. 'Rather than using the regulatory hammer to pick winners and losers, we should encourage all colleges to focus on student success,' said Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah. Democrats disagreed. Advocates for years have argued that the loophole incentivized schools to recruit veterans to plus-up the amount of steady, government dollars they could collect, even in cases where the programs did not provide long-term benefits to the students. 'Unscrupulous institutions were using this to exploit student veterans,' said Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore. 'Now Republicans want to eliminate the rule altogether, removing a vital consumer protection and giving for-profit colleges free rein to continue to prey on students.' VA pays out more than $8 billion in education payments annually. A Democratic amendment to strip the repeal language from the reconciliation measure failed along party lines. The provision could still be removed by House leadership before a full chamber vote, or by Senate lawmakers before final passage of the budgetary measure. Veterans groups who have been advocating on the issue for years promised to highlight it in coming weeks. 'The House of Representatives should be ashamed that they're even entertaining the idea of reinstating this costly and wrongheaded policy that would threaten the future of veterans' education,' Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America CEO Allison Jaslow said in a statement. Republican leaders have said they hope to pass a final reconciliation bill package by mid-June.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: Burgess Owens — intent vs. impact
Intent is what you mean to do, and impact is how your actions are perceived and felt by others. 'I have never been more excited about where we are,' Burgess Owens recently said about education in Utah. He went on to say, 'The whole purpose of education is to make sure our kids are the best prepared in the entire world.' Unfortunately, comments like these clearly demonstrate how disconnected Congressman Burgess Owens is from realities facing his community. Utah faces significant challenges in education today: Between 2021-23, Utah lost approximately 2,056 people to suicide, and 22.9% of Utah high school students have seriously considered suicide. We currently rank 7th in the nation for suicide. The needs of special education services continue to go unmet due to inadequate support from the state Legislature. The Starbase Hill program, which inspired students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, was shut down due to a lack of federal funding. Discrimination persists throughout the state and many schools have failed to respond to formal complaints from parents. In many cases, when families file civil rights complaints, they are ignored or dismissed by local districts and state education agencies. Educators are being demoralized by Owens' frequent misrepresentations and lack of support for their work. While addressing crime, drugs and gang violence is crucial, it is deeply troubling that hardworking immigrant families, many of whom are longtime U.S. citizens, are being unfairly lumped into these categories. Second- and third-generation Americans are being targeted simply because of the color of their skin. Burgess Owens has shown time and again that he is out of touch and primarily serves his own interests. He has failed to represent the true needs of Utahns. This is specifically painful given his personal history. In 1969, he was one of four African American players who were integrated onto a university football team — facing the very same type of discrimination he now enables against immigrant and minority children. He is benefiting from the civil rights activism that paved the way for him, while working to dismantle those same efforts for others. As a U.S. congressman, Burgess Owens took an oath to represent all constituents in Utah. That means listening to constituents across all communities, not just those who align with a political agenda, and upholding the principles of unity and opportunity for all Utah students. We call on Congressman Owens to truly represent Utah by working with all communities and rejecting divisive rhetoric and harmful policies. Our students and educators deserve better.
CBS News
21-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
DePaul University president called to testify before Congress in hearing on antisemitism
The president of DePaul University in Chicago has been called on to testify before Congress on antisemitism on college campuses. Education and Workforce Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) and Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee chair Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) sent a letter to DePaul President Robert Manuel calling on him to testify at a committee hearing on May 7 in Washington, D.C. The university responded in a statement, saying Manuel received the invitation and "looks forward to having the conversation with our lawmakers and describing all that DePaul has done to confront antisemitism on campus." Two Jewish students have filed a lawsuit against DePaul , accusing the school of failing to protect them from an attack that is being prosecuted as a hate crime. Max Long and Michael Kaminsky said they were outside the student center in November 2024 when two masked attackers punched them as they showed support for Israel. The incident happened during Israel's war with Gaza. Adam Erkan of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, has been charged with two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of hate crime in the attack. He appeared in court and was ordered detained until his trial. DePaul was also one of the universities that held large-scale pro-Palestinian protests and erected a pro-Palestinian encampment in the spring of 2024 at the heigh to the war between Israel and Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The encampment was dismantled by police last May. President Trump has used antisemitism as a way to attack several colleges and universities and to strip them of funding, including Northwestern University . His Department of Education said the pro-Palestinian activities and encampments comprise a violation of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
