Contact Your Members
of Congress Now!
Urge them to Repeal the HEA Drug Provision
November 22, 2005
Action Needed
With the upcoming holiday break, Congress is on recess and
lawmakers will be returning to their home district for the
remainder of the week. During this busy holiday, please take
5 minutes of your time to call your representative and senators
at their district offices and urge them to restore federal
financial aid to those students denied aid because of past
drug convictions.
In all likelihood, Congress will conclude their discussions
on the Higher Education Act (HEA) drug provision by year’s
end. The Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform (CHEAR)
and the more than 250 organizations supporting full repeal
of the law are making a strong push to encourage Congress
to restore financial aid to as many students as possible this
Congress. Now is the time to take action. We can still influence
the conference committee, where negotiators will hammer out
the differences in the proposed changes to the drug provision.
CHEAR is asking that Congress combine the best of both chambers’
proposed changes to the drug provision by eliminating the
law’s “reach-back” effect for all offenses
and removing the drug question, or question 31, from the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Please take 5
minutes of your time to either call your Congressperson or
visit www.RaiseYourVoice.com/TakeAction to send a letter to
your member.
Issue
The Higher Education Act (HEA) drug provision is a little-known
federal law that denies financial aid to students with past
drug convictions. Since this law was enacted in 2000, more
than 175,000 would-be students have lost their financial aid
because of past drug convictions, no matter how minor the
offenses.
Both chambers of Congress have introduced different budget
proposals that contain different changes to the drug provision.
The House proposal would reinstate financial aid to students
with past drug convictions, while denying financial aid to
students convicted while enrolled in school. The Senate version
would reinstate aid to students with past possession convictions
and bar the Department of Education from asking applicants
about possession convictions on the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA). We are asking Congress to further this
progress and combine the best of both proposals by eliminating
the retroactivity of the drug provision for all offenses and
removing the drug question, or question 31, from the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
What You Can Do
Call your members of Congress this week and ask them to scale
back the drug provision as much as possible as part of budget
reconciliation. Call any day this week and don’t be
afraid to leave a message. Encourage the whole family to call
in. The sample phone script is below, but remember, please
be polite and stay on message. Your member district phone
number can be found at www.RaiseYourVoice.com/lookup.html.
After you make the call, please also take a moment to send
a pre-written letter to your member of Congress by visiting
www.RaiseYourVoice.com/TakeAction.
Sample Phone Script
When calling your members of Congress, you might find the
following sample script helpful:
“Hi, my name is ____________, and I’m calling
from ___________ (location or organization).
I’m calling to encourage (Senator or Representative)
_______ to ensure that the Higher Education Act drug provision,
which has denied financial aid to more than 175,000 students
with prior drug convictions, is scaled back as much as possible
as Congress passes the final budget bill. The House and Senate
education budget proposals have made considerable progress
in scaling back this provision and I would like to encourage(Senator
or Representative) _______ to ensure that the final reauthorization
bill would eliminate the retroactivity of the law for all
offenses and remove the drug question from the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) altogether.”
Notes
If, in the unlikely event that the staffer might ask, you
can cite the “drug provision” as section 484(r)
of the Higher Education Act of 1965, or Title 20, section
1091(r) of the U.S. Code.
Click HERE for a printable
version. For more information on HEA and how to become active,
please see www.raiseyourvoice.com. For suggestions on talking
points or strategy, please contact David Guard by email
at heareform@raiseyourvoice.com, or by phone at (202) 232-7111.
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